Pokémon RWBY: The Swords of Justice
by BranwenOSV
Summary: (Pokémon!AU of RWBY) Long ago, a legendary group of Pokémon saved the world from an evil entity known as Salem and her Renegade Pokémon, Giratina. In the present day, a cult plans to bring Salem and Giratina back, and the Swords must once again save Remnant, this time with the help of Ruby and her friends. That is, if they'll even accept the help of humans.
1. The Swords of Justice

**A/N: Aside from the flashback at the beginning, this takes place some time after "Journey Through Vale." If you haven't read "Journey Through Vale," you might get spoiled on some details regarding the ending of that story (although some might say it isn't much of a spoiler when I did some blatant foreshadowing).**

 **Also, don't expect this to be a long story compared to JTV, and yes, I do plan to write a different one that will feature other characters and more Gen 6 & 7 aspects. Consider this more of a bonus side story.**

* * *

 _Several years ago_

When Ruby and Yang were little kids, Yang would create toys of legendary Pokémon based on whatever stuff they had lying around and would tell Ruby all the fairy tales associated with them. Tonight was a big night as Yang was going to put on her biggest production yet.

Yang was stacking a bunch of boxes to use as a stage for her play based on a fairy tale Ruby loved hearing about. Once the stage and all the props were set, Yang and her shiny Dratini - nicknamed Celica - emerged from behind the stage to greet the audience.

"Good evening, ladies and germs!" announced Yang. "Tonight, The Xiao Long Celica Theater Company proudly presents a live performance of one of the most popular fairy tales of all time: Giratina and The Swords of Justice!"

"Yay!" cheered Ruby. "I love this story!"

"Arf arf!" barked Zwei, their pet Poochyena sitting next to Ruby.

With the introductions out of the way, Yang shut off all the lights in the room and turned on the flashlights pointing at the stage, setting the story of these legendary Pokémon.

"Once upon a time a way WAY long ago, when a majority of the world was inhabited by Pokémon, there lived four legendary Pokémon known for protecting the weak and fighting evil! They become known across the lands as...The Swords of Justice!"

Yang pulled out crayon drawings attached to sticks of the legendary heroes.

"Leading these heroes was the Pokémon of Iron Will, Cobalion the courageous! Fighting by his sides were Pokémon equally as strong and brave: Terrakion the tough and Virizion the vain! Last, but not least, was the youngling who trained under these trio of heroes: Keldeo the kind!"

"Hooray!" said Ruby. "I love Keldeo!"

"Whenever there was Pokémon in danger, the Swords of Justice would be there to save the day! There wasn't anything or anyone that could defeat these brave heroes! That was until one day...SHE had appeared!"

Yang suddenly turned off all the flashlights as she took out her dad's CD player and played a scary song.

"One day, an evil witch appeared who wanted to destroy the world! This witch was known as...Salem the wicked!"

Yang turned on a flashlight to spotlight her drawing of Salem, which according to legend appeared very tall and had pale white skin and hair, and evil red eyes that didn't appear human. She looked like a humanized version of the fictional Grimm from some of Ruby's scarier fairy tale books.

"No one knows where this witch came from, or why she wanted to destroy the world! But she wouldn't be alone in her plan, for she was able to summon a Pokémon not from this world! That's right...there was a world beyond our own! A world said to be bathed in pure darkness, where the laws of science did not exist; a world of madness! From this world came a Pokémon like no other! A Pokémon bent on destroying anything in its path! The dreaded Giratina!"

Yang took out a pair of flashlights and pointed them towards Celica standing by the stage, now dressed in a costume to resemble Giratina. Celica was wearing yellow scarfs around her body and had paper wings flapping by her side. The real Giratina looked a lot more menacing than Celica was portraying, but it didn't stop Ruby from pretending it was the real thing, gasping in horror at this wicked monster.

"RIII!" yelled Celica.

"Grrr," growled Zwei.

"RII!" yelled Celica again, using her Thunder Wave as special effects. Zwei whimpered and jumped into Ruby's arms.

"Booooo!" said Ruby. "Giratina is mean!"

"Giratina was a crazy Pokémon!" said Yang. "When Salem brought Giratina to our world, it began attacking anything in sight without a second thought! Forests, mountains, lakes...anything Giratina and its master Salem came across was instantly destroyed!"

That was Celica's cue to turn to the props off stage and start demolishing them with her tail. All the paper structures were crumpled and ruined under Celica's might, much like how Giratina ravaged the lands centuries ago.

"With Salem by Giratina's side, there didn't seem to be any human or Pokémon that could stop them! That was until...they came face to face with the Swords of Justice!"

The Swords of Justice took center stage and stood their ground against Giratina. When it came time to voice Salem and the Pokémon, Yang would change her voice and wave the stick with the picture of that Pokémon on it to make sure Ruby knew who was talking.

"Hold it right there, Giratina!" said 'Cobalion.' "The Swords of Justice are here to stop you!"

"RIII!" yelled Celica, attempting to scare the Swords away.

"Ha ha ha!" laughed 'Terrakion.' "You think you can frighten the toughest Pokémon of all? I'm not afraid to fight you, Giratina!"

"I bet I can defeat this Giratina single handedly!" said 'Virizion.'

"Do you so-called Swords of Justice really think you stand a chance?" asked 'Salem.' "Run now or be destroyed like the others who tried to stop us!"

"We'll never run away!" said 'Keldeo.' "Together, we're going to defeat you once and for all!"

"Yeah!" said Ruby. "You tell her, Keldeo!"

"And so," said Yang, "the stage was set for the biggest battle the world had ever seen! Salem and Giratina would fight the Swords of Justice in a battle to determine the fate of the world!"

Yang played a dramatic song on the CD player as the Swords and Giratina did battle, with Yang swatting at Celica with the paper drawings, while Celica roared and pushed back. No matter how hard the Swords seem to hit Giratina, Giratina would not fall.

"RI!" yelled Celica, leaning her head back and headbutting Cobalion out of Yang's hand. Celica proceeded to do the same thing to all the other Swords in Yang's hand; now the Swords were lying flat on the cardboard stage, as if they had all been knocked out.

"It may have been four against two," said Yang, "but Salem and Giratina were too strong! The Swords of Justice were completely outmatched! All seemed hopeless for our heroes and the world! But then..."

"Here it comes!" said Ruby, anxiously waiting for the best part of the story.

"The Swords of Justice combined their powers using their ultimate move! Together, they struck the evil duo with their Sacred Sword attack!"

Yang took out several flashlights and shone them all on Celica. Celica pretended that she was in severe pain from the four heroes all using their Sacred Sword attack at the same time.

"Riiiii," cried Celica as she fell over and collapsed.

"With the power of their Sacred Swords, the Swords of Justice were able to defeat Salem and her Giratina, banishing them into the evil dimension Giratina came from, never to return again!"

"Riii," said Celica, slithering away from the stage.

"And so, the world was saved from total destruction, all thanks to the bravest four Pokémon the world has ever known: The Swords of Justice!"

"Hooray for the Swords of Justice!" cheered Ruby. "Hooray!"

Yang turned back on the lights as her and Celica bowed to the audience, who gave the actresses a rousing standing ovation.

"Thank you, thank you!" said Yang. "You were a terrific audience!"

"That was awesome, Yang!" said Ruby. "And you were great too, Celica! You really played a mean Giratina!"

"Rii," said Celica, wrapping around Ruby and purring on Ruby's neck.

With the play now over, Yang and Ruby cleaned up their mess before going to bed.

"Hey Yang?" said Ruby.

"What is it, Ruby?" said Yang.

"Do you think the Swords of Justice are real?"

"I don't know, Ruby. Nobody knows if legendary Pokémon are real because nobody has seen them in a long time."

"Maybe they're just really good hiders, so that way nobody tries to catch them, and they can continue saving Pokémon!"

"Maybe you're right, Ruby!"

"I hope so. I'd hate for that Giratina to ever come back."

"I'm sure that thing is gone for good, and if not, I'll train hard enough to kick its butt!"

"Yeah, and when I become Pokémon Champion, I'll be there to help you Yang, just like the Swords of Justice would!"

Ruby tucked herself in tightly and went to sleep while imagining herself fighting Giratina.

#

 _Present Day - Mistral Region_

The Mistral Region was known to have some of the widest forests and mountainous areas in all of Remnant, making it a popular habitat for a variety of Pokémon, especially those considered rare and endangered, hence many of these forests were classified as sanctuaries by the Pokémon League.

One such sanctuary was a place known as Slowpoke Lake, named so because of the abundance of Slowpoke. In Mistral, Slowpoke tails became a very expensive delicacy, leading to poachers nearly hunting them to extinction, hence the sanctuary put in place. It seemed no matter the kinds of penalties Mistral's law enforcement dished out, there was always poachers who attempted to take a risk and illegally capture the Slowpoke to obtain their tails. Two such poachers were the wanted criminals known as the Albain Twins: Corsac and Fennec.

The two brothers were once again in the Slowpoke sanctuary, entrapping over a dozen Slowpoke in cages. Because of the Slowpoke's slow reaction time, it didn't take long for the brothers to trap them in cages and weaken them so they didn't have the strength to escape. The Slowpoke were moaning in pain as the brothers were overlooking their haul.

"This lake had quite the abundance of Slowpoke, brother," said Corsac. "I don't think we'll be able to transport all of them at once."

"Then let us get a head start on their tails, brother," said Fennec, pulling out his dagger.

"SLOOW!" shouted a deep voice behind them. The brothers turned and saw a Slowking standing before them, looking ready to battle.

"What's this now?" asked Corsac. "A Slowking?"

"He must be the protector of these Pokémon, brother," said Fennec. "And it appears he wants to battle us to free them.

"Let us not waste time, brother."

"Of course, brother."

Corsac and Fennec each took out a Poké Ball and summoned their Delphoxes to do battle with the Slowking fighting to protect his tribe. Slowking fired a Water Pulse at the Delphoxes; Corsac's Delphox created a Light Screen to block the Water Pulse, while Fennec's Delphox attacked Slowking's mind with a Psyshock. Slowking tried to fight back at Fennec's Delphox by using his Psychic attack; Corsac's Delphox launched a Shadow Ball that threw Slowking off, giving Fennec's Delphox a chance to launch a Shadow Ball as well, knocking the Slowking down. As Slowking was struggling to get up, the Delphoxes lit their sticks on fire and attacked Slowking with a double Mystical Fire, dealing serious damage to the Slowking. The Slowking was too hurt to keep fighting, causing the captured Slowpoke to cry out in fear.

"It appears the protector has failed to protect his species, brother," said Corsac.

"So he has, brother," said Fennec. "Say brother...how much does the tail of a Slowking go for?"

"I'm not sure, brother. Considering how expensive a Slowpoke tail is, the tail of a Slowking could be very valuable...along with other parts of their body."

"Well then...only one way to find out, brother!"

Fennec pulled out his dagger once again; the Delphoxes held down the weakened Slowking as the Slowpoke were yelling for their leader to get up and fight back. Fennec laughed as he held the dagger close to the throat of Slowking to measure how much he'd have to cut off the head.

"Let's start with the head and that crown of yours, shall we?"

"Cease your actions immediately, human!" shouted a loud, orotund voice that echoed in the forest. Everyone was turning their heads to find the source of the voice.

"What was that?" asked Fennec.

"It must be the Pokémon Rangers, brother!" replied Corsac.

"Humans!" shouted the same orotund voice. "You dare try to harm innocent Pokémon in their habitat like cowards?"

"Why not try to fight someone bigger?" shouted a gruff voice. "Unless you don't think you're tough enough!"

"They certainly don't look tough!" shouted an enticing voice. "Or smart for that matter!"

"Show yourselves, whoever you are!" replied Fennec, dropping the Slowking and clasping his dagger, ready to fight whoever dared tried to interrupt their poaching operation.

The Delphoxes lit their sticks on fire, ready to attack as soon as whomever those voices belonged to showed themselves. Out of the forest suddenly came a green blur that rushed in and struck one of the Delphoxes with a giant energy sword, disarming them. The other Delphox turned around to attack, only for something grey to suddenly run out and strike the other Delphox with a similar looking sword protruding out of its forehead.

"Over there, brother!" yelled Corsac. Fennec turned to see the two Pokémon that had come out to attack; the green one stood tall and had what appeared to be blades of grass sticking out of its upper body, while the grey one was slouched down and had a wide chest, making it appear like a boulder.

Whatever these Pokémon were, Fennec wasn't going to wait for their trainers to come out as well. Fennec gripped his dagger and charged for the two Pokémon; he couldn't get far before another Pokémon suddenly ran out of the forest. This one was blue and had a white mane on their chest, standing even taller than the green one. This third Pokémon created an energy sword from its forehead and slashed Fennec's arm as they came running in, causing Fennec to drop his dagger and fall to his knees, gripping his arm tightly as he screamed in pain.

"My arm!" yelled Fennec. "It feels like it's been broken in two, brother!"

"That was a warning," said the stern blue one. "Release these Slowpoke now and never come back, or else you will suffer a much greater punishment."

"What the...?" said Corsac, shocked to hear a Pokémon speak in human language. "What in the world are you beasts?"

Best known from the fables telling of their legacy throughout the centuries, these three Pokémon that came to stop the poachers were known as the Swords of Justice. Standing front and center was the blue one serving as their leader, Cobalion. To their left stood the grey one, Terrakion, and to their right stood the green one, Virizion.

"The only beasts we see are the poachers invading this natural habitat," replied the smug Virizion.

"I suggest you two run like cowards while you still can!" said the cocky Terrakion.

"Never!" replied Fennec. "I don't care what these things are! We've come too far to lose this opportunity!"

"Then you leave us no choice," replied Cobalion. "Terrakion! Virizion! To battle!"

"Delphox, Mystical Fire!" commanded Corsac.

The two Delphoxes shot their combined Mystical Fire at the trio of Pokémon, but the attack seemed to do little damage to them. The trio then charged into the Delphoxes and went all out on them with their Close Combat techniques. Terrakion recklessly tackled into one, while Virizion rammed headfirst into the other, with Cobalion shoulder tackling into both. The Delphoxes already felt like they were about to faint.

"Delphox, use your Psyshock on the blue one!"

The Delphoxes concentrated their mental powers and struck Cobalion's mind with a Psyshock. Cobalion's mind was wrought with pain from the foxes' Psychic attack.

"Are you feeling all right, Cobalion?" asked Virizion.

"Stand back!" said Cobalion, turning their horns and shoulder blades into pure metal. Terrakion and Virizion backed away as Cobalion used their Metal Burst attack, exploding the metal on their body into several pieces and sending them flying into the Delphoxes. The strong hot metal collided all over the Delphoxes' bodies, dealing the final blow that knocked them out.

"How pathetic!" said Terrakion. "That didn't take much effort at all."

Corsac recalled both his and his brother's Pokémon. It was at that moment Terrakion noticed one of the humans had seemingly disappeared.

 _"Strange; did one of the humans run away?"_

Terrakion turned around and found Fennec clutching to his dagger with his good arm, attempting to jump Cobalion from behind and stab him. Fennec raised his dagger and ran towards Cobalion.

"On your rear, Cobalion!" yelled Terrakion, using their Quick Guard technique to instantly jump in front of Cobalion and using their rock-hard body to block Fennec's dagger. Cobalion jumped over Terrakion and tackled Fennec to the ground, knocking the dagger out of his hand. Cobalion kept Fennec under one of their hoofs so he wouldn't move. With no Pokémon or weapon to defend himself, Fennec realized he had no chance in fighting off these mysterious Pokémon.

"Okay, I surrender!" said Fennec. "We'll release the Slowpoke!"

"You expect me to trust your word when you dared to stab me behind my back?" said Cobalion, pressing their hoof down on Fennec. The weight of Cobalion's hoof pressing down on his chest made Fennec feel as if he was trapped under a tree.

"Please, I swear I'll let them go!"

"Your words mean nothing to me, human. You will be punished for your crimes against Pokémon!"

Cobalion lifted their other leg up and stomped on Fennec's chest. The force of Cobalion's stomp was enough to cause serious injury to Fennec, who screamed from the immense pain was now in. Realizing these mysterious Pokémon had no qualms in harming humans, Corsac tried to turn tail and run, only to suddenly be stopped by Terrakion and Virizion getting in his way. Seeing the way the two smirked at him caused a chill to run down his spine.

"Not so tough now, are you?" said Terrakion. Corsac tripped over himself as he tried to back away from the other two. He crawled backwards only to bump into Cobalion; he looked up and saw Cobalion staring down at him with a look of contempt. Corsac shook in fear as the trio had him surrounded.

"I'm s-s-sorry!" said Corsac, getting on his knees and bowing to Cobalion. "I'll r-r-release the Slowpoke! We'll never come back, I pr-promise!"

"Humans always look so pathetic when begging for mercy," said Virizion.

"What do you think, Cobalion?" asked Terrakion. "Should we let him go?"

Corsac looked up at Cobalion with tears in his eyes, hoping Cobalion would allow him to escape unharmed. But Cobalion's expression didn't change in the slightest, and neither did their mercy. Cobalion smacked Corsac across the face with their hoof, then pressed their hoof down on the back of Corsac's neck. Corsac flailed around trying to escape and screaming for mercy, but Cobalion continued to ignore him.

"You will pay in the name of justice!" said Cobalion.

"Cobalion, STOP!" suddenly yelled a gentle voice from afar. The trio of Pokémon turned to see a young-looking colt with a long red and blue mane and a small horn on their head approach them.

"Keldeo! I ordered you to stay behind!"

"We've already rescued the Slowpoke!" said Keldeo. "There's no reason to attack the humans like this!"

"There is a reason! We much teach these humans a lesson if they are to realize why to never commit such atrocities again!"

"They've already learned their lesson! Beating them down like this is just cruel!"

"Is it any less cruel than what they were going to do to these Slowpoke?" replied Virizion.

"We're just dishing out the same pain they tried to commit!" said Terrakion.

"Don't you think they've suffered enough?" asked Keldeo. "Please Cobalion, just let them go!"

Knowing Keldeo was too merciful towards humans was exactly why Cobalion insisted Keldeo stayed behind during their missions. Cobalion would have preferred to deal with the poachers here and now but couldn't serve them true justice with Keldeo as a witness. Cobalion groaned as they lifted their hoof off Corsac's neck.

"Terrakion, Virizion, help Keldeo free the Slowpoke," said Cobalion. "I will watch the human to make sure he doesn't try anything."

Keldeo breathed a sigh of relief seeing Cobalion letting the humans off. "Thank you, Cobalion."

Cobalion kept their gaze on Corsac as the other Swords freed the Slowpoke from their cages. Corsac didn't dare try to move a muscle in front of Cobalion, believing the slightest movement would be enough to set Cobalion off.

"All the Slowpoke have been freed!" said Keldeo.

"How is the Slowking?" asked Cobalion.

"He's pretty beaten up, but nothing serious."

"Very well. Let's escort the Slowking to a safer area. As for you, human; take your brother and leave."

The Swords helped the Slowking to his feet and walked off towards the forest to where they could gather berries for him to eat. With the Swords no longer minding Corsac, Corsac ran over to where his brother dropped his dagger and picked it up.

"Do not worry, brother," muttered Corsac, grabbing Fennec's dagger. "We will be the ones who get the last laugh!"

With Cobalion's back turned against him, Corsac charged for Cobalion and planned to impale them. Unfortunately for Corsac, Cobalion could hear him coming and bucked their back legs into Corsac, sending him flying back several feet. The other turned to see what happened when they heard Corsac suddenly screaming in pain.

"What's going on?" asked Keldeo. "What did you do?"

"Terrakion, Virizion," said Cobalion. "Take Keldeo and go on ahead."

"Wait, Cobalion!"

Keldeo tried to run up to Cobalion to convince them not to harm the other human but was held back by Terrakion and Virizion. Corsac struggled to get back to his feet, only to look up at a very irate Cobalion.

"As I predicted you would...coward," said Cobalion.

#

Hearing that the infamous Albain twins continued to thwart Mistral's police yet again, Qrow Branwen - founder of the Pokémon Rangers - decided to have his Rangers step in and apprehend the criminals themselves. Because of the severity of the mission, Qrow sent his three best Rangers for the job: Coco Adel, Pyrrha Nikos, and Yang Xiao Long. Coco and Pyrrha were flying on their Pidgeots, while Yang flew on her shiny Dragonite, Celica.

"Here's the mission, Rangers," said Qrow. "Two highly wanted poachers have been seen entering a Pokémon Sanctuary. Our job is to arrest the poachers and prevent any of the Pokémon from getting harmed."

"Shouldn't be a problem for us," said Coco.

"I'll make those poachers beg for mercy, right Celica?" said Yang.

"Raor!" agreed Celica.

"Hey now, Yang," said Qrow. "I know poachers are the lowest of scum, but we've still got protocols to follow. Arceus knows I already get enough flak in Vale; I don't need Mistral filing complaints about being too rough on criminals."

"We're approaching the area," said Pyrrha. "Let's spread out and start searching."

The Rangers jumped off their Pokémon and landed in different sections of Slowpoke Lake. Pyrrha rode on top of her Arcanine as they scouted the forest.

"Remember these are poachers we're dealing with. They could be armed, dangerous, and..."

"Something wrong, Pyrrha?" asked Coco.

"...right...here."

"Huh?" asked Yang. "Pyrrha, what's going on?

"Girls...you need to see this!"

Coco and Yang immediately headed to where Pyrrha was and couldn't believe what they were witnessing. They had found the poachers lying unconscious by the lake, with broken cages strewn about.

"Whoa," said Yang. "Um...now what?"

"We call the boss, what else?" replied Coco, taking out her scroll. "Sir, Ranger Coco reporting. We've found the two poachers unconscious in the forest."

"Unconscious?" asked Qrow. "How?"

"It looks like they were attacked," said Pyrrha, looking over the bodies. "Both of them have signs of serious bruises, and one of them might even have broken ribs."

"But then who would leave them in the middle of the forest like this?" asked Yang.

"It was probably the Pokémon themselves that did it," said Coco.

"But Pokémon are usually never this aggressive," said Pyrrha, "and even if they were, it couldn't possibly have been done by any of the Slowpoke here."

"Okay," said Yang, "this is getting weird. Either there's a freakishly strong Pokémon around here, or we've got vigilantes on the loose."

"We'll leave that mystery up to the local law enforcement," said Qrow. "I've already put in a call about the situation. Rangers, remain with the poachers in case they try to up and leave."

#

After dealing with the poachers, the Swords immediately went into hiding when they sensed the Pokémon Rangers coming their way. They watched from a nearby cliff overlooking the forest as Mistral's law enforcement came and apprehended the unconscious poachers. With their mission complete, the Pokémon Rangers got on their Pokémon and flew out of the forest, completely unaware of the legendary Pokémon looking up at them.

"That takes care of our poacher problem," said Virizion.

"But we didn't have to hurt them so badly!" said Keldeo.

"Give it a rest, Keldeo!" said Terrakion. "Some humans just don't listen until you inflict a little pain on them!"

"Is that how you plan to save all Pokémon? By harming humans?"

"You're acting childish, Keldeo," said Virizion. "If humans understood peace the way we do, we wouldn't need to inflict violence in the first place!"

"So we're just going to act the same way they do?"

"If you really think we're no better than the humans," said Terrakion, "maybe you should go live with them instead!"

"And maybe I will!" yelled Keldeo before running off. The two Swords sighed at seeing Keldeo throwing their usual fit whenever the Swords dealt with dangerous humans.

"There they go making those threats again," said Virizion.

"Think Keldeo will actually go through with it this time?" asked Terrakion.

"Doubtful. What say you, Cobalion?"

Cobalion had been strangely quiet throughout the whole exchange and continued to look up at the sky contemplating their thoughts.

"Is something wrong, Cobalion? Are you worried about what Keldeo said?"

"Keldeo will toughen up eventually," said Terrakion. "They're still a youngling after all."

"It's not that," said Cobalion. "Lately I've been having premonitions of a great disaster set to strike Remnant."

"How great are we talking?" asked Virizion. "Surely it can't be as bad as that incident with the witch."

"I'm afraid so, and this one we cannot simply ignore like the recent one in Vale."

"I don't see the big deal!" said Terrakion. "We've defeated tougher enemies in the past! We'll take down anyone that comes our way!"

"Terrakion is right," said Virizion. "You're being worked up over nothing."

"I pray to the Gods that I am," said Cobalion.

The trio went off to their usual hiding place, hoping Cobalion's premonitions were nothing more than superstitions.


	2. A Poisonous Encounter

**A/N: This chapter was getting longer than I thought, so I decided to split it up. Chapter 3 will be coming out shortly once I finalize some details I've been neglecting to work on.**

* * *

When it came to Pokémon that were considered legendary or mythical, many of them were regarded as simply old fables of the past. Without the chance to see many of these Pokémon in person, it was hard to consider them to be real. It would be a researcher's dream to prove the existence of a legendary Pokémon.

During her journey through Vale, Ruby met a colleague of Ozpin's named Alison Church, an archaeologist obsessed with learning more about legendary Pokémon. She had led many archaeological digs, hoping to stumble upon a breakthrough. After several years of nearly going nowhere, her team made a huge discovery that became the talk of the Pokémon world: An orb connected to the Triad of Creation. It was theorized that the world of Remnant was created by a trio of deities nicknamed the Triad of Creation: Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia. Outside of cave drawings and ancient texts however, there was no evidence that these deities existed.

The orb discovered was going to be displayed at the Haven City Museum in the Mistral region. Because of the high-profile discovery, the inaugural opening was going to be a private invitation only event sponsored by the Schnee Corporation. Only a select number of invites were allowed to come; one of them being Vale's newly crowned Pokémon Champion, Ruby Rose.

Along the way to the museum, Ruby was looking up articles about the Triad of Creation on her Pokédex while walking with her Sylveon.

"It blows my mind to think there could have been Pokémon powerful enough to create the world," said Ruby. "Could you imagine if somebody caught them and used them in battle? They'd be Pokémon League Champions in no time!"

"Sylveon!" replied Sylveon, Ruby's most trusted companion. Sylveon had fought many strong Pokémon when she was just an Eevee, especially the ones she fought during the Pokémon League tournament. Sylveon didn't want to think just how strong these God-like Pokémon can be.

"Then again, I kind of got a legendary on my side as well," said Ruby, placing her hand over the Master Ball hanging off her belt. Inside the Master Ball was Mewtwo, the genetically engineered clone of Mew. Mewtwo was once full of hatred and malice against the humans, used by the White Fang to attack New Vale City and destroy Schnee Corporation's Vale headquarters. Despite their horrible actions, Ruby didn't believe Mewtwo to truly be evil, causing Mewtwo to have a change of heart, and decided to travel with Ruby to learn how to be a better Pokémon. As unstoppable as Ruby could be using Mewtwo in her battles, Ruby vowed to never use Mewtwo to fight for her unless Mewtwo absolutely insisted.

When Ruby turned the corner on the block where the museum would be, she noticed a line stretching out the entire block; the front entrance was nearly blockaded by a swarm of people begging to be let in.

"People, this is an invite only event!" said one of the security guards out front. "Everyone will get a chance to see the orb themselves starting tomorrow!"

"This is insane," muttered Ruby. Ruby dug into her pockets to pull out the invitation she received and showed it to the guards out front. Ruby was quickly given a lanyard and escorted to the meeting as the crowd out front kept getting restless.

The meeting was being held in one of the main wings of the museum. Most of the crowd consisted of the press and scientists around the world, with a few pseudo-celebrity trainers scattered about. As soon as Ruby arrived, she was confronted by her former arch-nemesis, Weiss Schnee.

"It's about time you arrived!" said Weiss. "The conference is about to begin!"

"It's crazy out there!" said Ruby. "I think there was more people waiting outside than the museum can actually fit!"

"Of course! We're witnessing groundbreaking history here! Only those privately invited are here today, and luckily for you, you just happen to be friends with the daughter of the President of the company sponsoring this event. You should feel honored to be friends with a somebody like me."

"I am sooooo honored," replied Ruby sarcastically.

Ruby and Weiss were arch-enemies who couldn't stand each other since day one. Weiss had always bested Ruby and put down Ruby's capability of being a good trainer. Their rivalry lasted all the way to the Vale Championship where Ruby had triumphed over Weiss. Rather than gloat and rub it in Weiss' face like she initially wanted to, Ruby thanked Weiss for being such an amazing opponent, and the two were now friendly rivals.

Thanks to her connections with Weiss, Ruby was escorted to the front of the crowd to get a good view of the orb; at least, whatever was supposed to be revealed underneath the giant black cloak covering it. When Ruby got to the front of the crowd, she noticed another familiar face standing in front of the crowd: Her older sister and Pokémon Ranger, Yang.

"Hey, Yang!" said Ruby.

"Oh, hey sis!" said Yang. "I see you were one of the lucky ones getting an invite!"

"Did you get invited too?"

"Sort of. The Rangers were hired to serve as security. Seems this orb can fetch quite a price on the black market."

"Really? Who wants to possess something like that?"

"I heard there's some kind of cult in Mistral obsessed with it. But don't worry; Celica and I will keep this orb safe and sound!"

"You had better!" said Weiss. "I practically begged my sister to hire the Rangers, and I'd hate to have my and the company's reputation ruined because of it!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is about to begin. Please welcome the President of Vale's Society of Pokémon Archaeologists, Miss Allison Church."

Despite being a formal gathering, Church came out in her usual attire of a casual t-shirt and her trademark black trench coat and cap. The audience gave a polite applause as Church stood next to the black cloak holding a microphone. Church cleared her throat before speaking very enthusiastically.

"Members of the press and the science community around the world!" greeted Church. "Thank you for coming to this groundbreaking historical event! Words can't express how excited I am to show what could be our biggest step into learning the origins of our world! Who is as excited as I am?"

"Yeah!" shouted Ruby, which was followed by an awkward silence. Nobody else in the crowd seemed to share the same kind of enthusiasm as Church and Ruby did. Weiss was mortified and took a mental note to never invite Ruby to events like this again.

"I...guess I'll save that one for the public," said Church in a more normal tone. "AHEM. Anyway, let's cut straight to the chase. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting...the Griseous Orb!"

Church removed the cloak and revealed the orb displayed inside its glass casing. The orb was more of a dodechahedron-esque crystal with triangle patterns and colored in a goldenrod shade. The crowd ooh'd as the press took several photos of the orb. As the crowd looked on, Church went on to explain the origins of the orb.

"For those unaware, the Griseous Orb is connected to a legendary Pokémon known as Giratina. According to ancient texts, Giratina was closely related to the group of Pokémon we call the Triad of Creation. Arceus, the supposed creator, made two Pokémon to control the natural forces of time and gravity: Dialga and Palkia. What we've yet to uncover is where Giratina fits in that puzzle. Was Giratina created by Arceus as well, and if so, what purpose did Giratina serve? So far, all we know is that Giratina had gone against the will of Arceus, and thus was banished to another world outside of our reality. At least, that's how we interpreted the texts so far."

While Church was giving her speech, Yang made sure to keep her focus on the crowd, keeping watch for anyone that may try to get closer to the orb. Sure enough, a creepy looking man with a long ponytail in a trench coat was stepping out of the line. Yang immediately went into action and stood in front of him.

"Sorry sir," said Yang, "you're gonna have to move back."

Overhearing Yang talking, Weiss and Ruby turned their attention to Yang dealing with the stranger. Weiss was hoping Yang would deal with this idiot immediately.

"I just want to see that precious orb!" said the strange man. Just the tone of voice was enough for Yang to cringe.

"Sir, if you don't move back, I will be forced to get physical."

The stranger held up his arms and moved back to the front of the crowd. Just as Yang went back to her position, Ruby noticed the stranger reach into his trench coat pocket and pull out what appeared to be a Dust crystal.

"Yang, look out!" yelled Ruby.

The commotion caused everyone in the room to look at the stranger, exactly what he was hoping for. The man threw the Dust crystal down on the ground as hard as he could, causing a bright flash to suddenly explode from the crystal; Ruby and Weiss covered their eyes just in time to avoid being blinded. While everyone was panicking from the sudden attack, the stranger smashed the display case open and grabbed the Griseous Orb; Ruby and Weiss opened their eyes and saw the stranger making his exit through the crowd.

"No!" yelled Weiss, chasing after the thief. "I'm not letting that scoundrel get away with this!"

"Wait up, Weiss!" yelled Ruby, with her and Sylveon in pursuit. The three of them followed Tyrian out of the emergency exits of the museum, only to lose him as soon as they got outside.

"Darn it, he got away!" said Weiss.

"Not yet he hasn't!" said Ruby. "Sylveon, can you pick up his scent?"

"Sylveon!" replied Sylveon, sniffing the air to find Tyrian's scent. After picking up the scent, Sylveon ran towards where Tyrian had gone, with Ruby and Weiss following close behind.

While Ruby and Weiss gave chase, Yang's vision was starting to recover. Unfortunately for her, she didn't see where Ruby and Weiss ran off to and was now standing in front of a hostile, panicky crowd.

 _"Darn it!"_ thought Yang. _"This crowd looks like they're about to riot! I've got to stay here and get these people to calm down!"_

#

Having escaped the museum and sneaking his way around the city, the thief made his escape to a nearby forest. He looked around to make sure that he wasn't followed, then took out his scroll to contact his partners.

"Come in Watts; it's Tyrian. I've got the orb!"

"Excellent," said Watts. "Have you made sure you weren't followed?"

"Positive. Everyone there got blinded by my little gift. By the time any of them get their eyesight back, it will have been too late!"

"Good work, Tyrian. Meet us at the usual location."

"Understood," said Tyrian. Having some time to himself, Tyrian held up the orb and smiled at its beautiful luster.

"To think I now hold the orb belonging to the queen herself! Ooooh, I can't wait until I finally get to meet her!"

As Tyrian admired the orb in his hands, he suddenly got struck in the arm by a Water Shuriken. The attack slashed his arm and nearly caused him to drop the orb, but he made sure to hold on to the orb for dear life. Tyrian looked around to find the source.

"So, I've been found after all, huh?" said Tyrian. "Must be one of you annoying Pokémon Rangers! Come out and face me!"

"You'll wish it was a Pokémon Ranger," said a voice above him. Tyrian looked up and saw a mysterious girl wearing a white coat and a black ribbon on her head jump down from the tree with her amphibious ninja Pokémon. This vigilante was Blake Belladonna, alongside her signature Pokémon, Greninja.

"Not a Pokémon Ranger, huh? What are you then, a bounty hunter?"

"I don't care about your bounty," said Blake. "I'm simply here to stop you from bringing back Salem."

Hearing Blake call out the name of the woman he admired intrigued Tyrian. It seemed this vigilante knew about Salem and her connection to the orb.

"Interesting," said Tyrian. "If you already know about Salem, then you must already know about our cult's plans. In which case, I'll have to make sure you don't leave here alive!"

Tyrian reached into his pocket and called out three of his Pokémon: Drapion, Salazzle, and Toxapex, all Pokémon being deadly Poison types. Blake was aware of Tyrian's style of battling and came prepared. With her Greninja already out, Blake reached into her pocket to call out her own Pokémon until she got interrupted.

"Hold it right there, criminal scum!" yelled a familiar icy voice. Blake looked behind her and saw Ruby and Weiss suddenly running into the fray themselves.

"Ruby? Weiss? What are you two doing here?" asked Blake.

"What else?" said Weiss. "Getting back the orb that scoundrel made off with!"

"Oh, goody!" said Tyrian, clapping his hands in excitement. "More friends for me to annihilate!"

"The only one about to be annihilated is you," said Ruby, "right Sylveon?"

"Sylveon!" replied Sylveon, getting herself ready to battle.

"And my Aegislash will make sure of it!" said Weiss, calling out her sword and shield apparition.

"Just don't get in my way too much," said Blake, deciding to hold back her other Pokémon for now.

"Go, my minions!" commanded Tyrian. "Poison them all with your Toxic!"

"Sylveon, Light Screen!" commanded Ruby.

All three of Tyrian's Pokémon shot out their poisonous liquids at the opposing trio; Sylveon put up her Light Screen to deflect the poisons and protect her teammates.

"Poison is this sicko's specialty!" said Blake. "Avoid getting poisoned at all costs!"

"Won't be a problem for my Aegislash!" said Weiss. "Aegislash, commence Swords Dance!"

"Greninja, fire your Water Shuriken!"

Greninja created several small Water Shurikens and launched them at Tyrian's Pokémon. The Toxapex shielded itself with its bulky body and absorbed the hits, Salazzle quickly moved out of the way, and Drapion held up his arms to block the attack. Meanwhile, Aegislash went into his Blade form and performed his Swords Dance ritual to greatly increase his strength. Seeing Aegislash leaving himself open, Tyrian saw this as the perfect time to attack.

"Salazzle, fire your Toxic at Aegislash!" commanded Tyrian. Salazzle slithered over to Aegislash and launched her poisonous liquid at Aegislash, who held up his shield to deflect the Poison. Weiss laughed at Tyrian's attempt to poison her Pokémon.

"That poison seems to have rotted your brain," said Weiss. "Steel types are completely immune to Poison!"

"Is that so?" said Tyrian, smirking right back. "Your Aegislash seems to disagree!"

"What are you..."

Weiss noticed Aegislash suddenly fall to the ground, as if he suddenly got exhausted. Weiss looked at Aegislash's shield and saw it had begun to corrode as if it was dipped in acid, catching Weiss completely off guard.

"Impossible! That thing's poison melted my Aegislash's shield!"

"You were right about Steel being immune to Poison," said Tyrian. "But you see, a Salazzle's poison is so deadly that it can even affect Steel type Pokémon!"

 _"So much for my type advantage!"_ thought Weiss. _"Toxic poison is deadlier than most other Poison attacks. I'll have to take out this scum's Pokémon fast before my Aegislash gets knocked out!"_

While Weiss was trying to deal with the tricky Salazzle, Greninja was going toe-to-toe with Drapion, while Sylveon was keeping an eye on Toxapex. Greninja used his Night Slash to hack away at Drapion, while Drapion struck back with his Cross Poison. The two traded blows back and forth until Drapion landed a critical blow, bringing Greninja down to his knees.

"Drapion, finish it off with Fell Stinger!" commanded Tyrian. Drapion raised the back of his tail and aimed at the weakened frog. Drapion lunged his stinger forward to pierce Greninja, only for the ninja to suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke and replaced with a Poké Doll. Drapion's tail went right through the doll, turning it into a pile of fluff. The real Greninja then appeared behind Drapion and countered with his Water Shuriken.

As Greninja and Drapion went back and forth, Sylveon was waiting for Toxapex to make a move, but Toxapex simply stood in place, hiding within its large outer shell.

"This must be one of those defensive type of Pokémon," said Ruby. "Sylveon, use your Swift attack!"

"Sylveon!" said Sylveon, creating several energy stars and launching them at Toxapex. The Toxapex continued to remain still and took the hits, not reacting to any of the stars striking its shell, as if it didn't feel them at all.

"Still nothing, huh? Sylveon, fire your Moonblast!"

Sylveon created a giant ball of light and fired at the Toxapex, who once again just stood in place and took the attack, still not reacting to anything Sylveon was doing.

"Toxapex, Liquidation!" commanded Tyrian. Toxapex lifted its back legs and suddenly shot out a strong burst of water, sending Toxapex flying into Sylveon, tackling Sylveon into a nearby tree, dealing some moderate damage to Sylveon.

"This is going to be tougher than I thought," said Ruby, wondering how her team was going to overcome Tyrian's trio.

#

Deep in the forest where the trainers were battling, the Swords of Justice had sensed a battle taking place nearby. The Swords ran over to observe the battle from about a hundred feet away while hiding amongst the trees. Despite their distance, the Swords could tell what was happening as if standing close by.

"What's going on?" asked Keldeo. "A Pokémon battle?"

"It appears some humans just ran in and started fighting each other," said Terrakion. "Why come out all the way out here though?"

"That does not concern me," said Cobalion. "What concerns me is the Pokémon used by that man. This forest couldn't possibly handle those types of Poison Pokémon."

"It looks like he's carrying something important in his hand," said Virizion.

Cobalion focused his sights on the object in Tyrian's hand. Upon gazing at the light reflecting off the orb, Cobalion was suddenly wrought with fear.

"No...it can't be!" yelled Cobalion.

"Is something wrong, Cobalion?" asked Virizion.

"Whoa," said Terrakion, noticing the color nearly drain on Cobalion's face. "You look like you've seen a ghost. What is it?"

"That's...the Griseous Orb!" said Cobalion. The other Swords were shocked to hear Cobalion claim that the human somehow possessed that fabled item.

"The Griseous Orb?" said Keldeo. "Isn't that the orb of Giratina?"

"It is. To think the humans have somehow rediscovered the orb! If they were to somehow find the other two..."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's jump in there and stop that man!"

Keldeo was ready to run in and fight Tyrian, but Cobalion held out their hoof in front of Keldeo.

"Stand your ground, Keldeo!" said Cobalion. "We will not make our presence known in front of the other humans!"

"But-"

"That is an order, Keldeo!"

Keldeo wanted to protest, but knew it was pointless to try and convince Cobalion to change their mind. Keldeo stood back as the other Swords continued to observe the fight.

As the fight against Tyrian continued, Ruby and her friends were at a disadvantage. Thanks to Salazzle, Aegislash got severely poisoned and its health was slowly fading away; Greninja could only avoid Drapion for so long until Drapion was able to drench him in Toxic, causing Greninja to be poisoned as well; and no matter what Sylveon did to Toxapex, Toxapex's defenses was so strong it acted as if it barely took any damage.

"This isn't good," said Blake. "Once our Pokémon get poisoned, he'll start using attacks that take advantage of that."

"If only I knew about that lizard's specialty!" said Weiss.

"Aren't you supposed to be the know-it-all?" remarked Ruby.

"You're one to talk! You thought using a Fairy type was a good idea! Don't you know Fairies are disadvantaged against Poison types?"

Overhearing Weiss mention Ruby's Sylveon being weak to Poison gave Tyrian a sinister idea.

"Everyone focus your attacks on the Sylveon!" commanded Tyrian.

All of Tyrian's Pokémon turned their attention to Sylveon, who realized she was going to have to fight three Pokémon at the same time. Sylveon's eyes darted around, wondering who was going to attack first.

"Sylveon, Swift attack!" commanded Ruby. Sylveon fired her stars at Salazzle and Drapion. While those two were being attacked, Toxapex opened its shell and fired its Toxic liquid at Sylveon from behind, causing Sylveon to be severely poisoned and stop her Swift attack.

"Now Salazzle, Venoshock!" Salazzle gargled up a different kind of poison and spat it all over Sylveon. With Sylveon already poisoned, the Venoshock caused a severe amount of pain to Sylveon. Sylveon collapsed to the ground, the poisons taking serious effect on her health. With Sylveon in a severely weakened state, Drapion crawled up to Sylveon to deliver the finishing blow. While Tyrian believed he was close to finishing off Ruby, he had no idea he was playing right into Weiss' hands.

 _"Just what I wanted!"_ thought Weiss. _"By pointing out Ruby's disadvantage, he's focusing all his efforts on Ruby. Now to wait for the right moment and..."_

"Drapion, Fell Stinger!"

"Now, Aegislash!" commanded Weiss.

Drapion raised his tail and tried to strike Sylveon when Aegislash suddenly got in front of Sylveon and used his King's Shield to deflect Drapion's stinger. Despite melting apart, the shield was still strong enough to cause the tip of Drapion's tail to break off, causing Drapion some immense pain as he backed off.

"Thanks for the save, Weiss!" said Ruby.

"If you really want to thank me, take out this rapscallion's Pokémon!" said Weiss.

"Right! Sylveon, time to break out your Last Resort!"

Sylveon stood up and concentrated all her energy into dishing out her most powerful attack.

"Toxapex, stop that mutt with Poison Jab!" commanded Tyrian. Toxapex opened the front of its shell as it jumped towards Sylveon, trying to knock Sylveon out before she can launch her attack.

"Now, Greninja!" commanded Blake. As soon as Toxapex opened its shell exposing himself, Greninja gazed into Toxapex's eyes and focused his mind, striking Toxapex's mind with his Extrasensory technique. Toxapex suddenly stopped as he felt his mind being ravaged by some unknown force, causing him to tip over and cry out in pain.

"Do it, Sylveon!" said Ruby. With Sylveon fully powered up, Sylveon charged into Drapion and tackled him with everything she had with enough force to send Drapion flying into a tree, taking the tree down along with Drapion. Tyrian was shocked to see Sylveon suddenly defeat one of his signature Pokémon out of nowhere.

"So what?" yelled Tyrian. "That was only ONE of my Pokémon! Salazzle, burn them with Flamethrower!"

Salazzle shot a line of flames towards the trio. Sylveon and Greninja got out of the way, but Aegislash was too slow to move and got severely burned by the flames, draining whatever health he had left.

"A noble sacrifice," said Weiss, recalling her fallen sword and shield. "Don't let it be wasted, you two!"

"I've got this," said Blake. "Greninja, Extrasensory!"

Greninja concentrated his mind on Salazzle and struck her with his mental prowess, causing Salazzle major anguish.

"Allow me!" said Ruby. "Sylveon, one more time!"

Sylveon quickly conjured up the energy she needed and tackled into Salazzle, dealing the same high amount of damage just like to Drapion. That left Tyrian only one Pokémon left: It's bulky yet incredibly slow Toxapex.

"That's two of your Pokémon taken out," said Blake. "Even if we're barely hanging on, we still have the numbers advantage. Care to gamble against us?"

Realizing that his chances of winning were quickly fading away, Tyrian decided to go with his backup plan.

"All right, I give up!" said Tyrian. "You can have the Orb back!"

Tyrian tossed the Griseous Orb aside as he recalled his Pokémon. With Tyrian defeated, Blake and Weiss ran over to grab the Orb; Ruby grabbed an antidote from her backpack and sprayed it on Sylveon to relieve the effects of the poison. That momentary distraction was enough for Tyrian to suddenly run up to Ruby and grab her from behind.

"Hey!" yelled Ruby. "Let me go you-" Ruby suddenly stopped when she saw Tyrian pulled out a syringe filled with a vile looking liquid inside.

"Nobody take another step!" yelled Tyrian, placing one arm around Ruby's neck and holding the needle close to her. "If I see the slightest bit of movement, this girl's getting 100cc's of Tyrian brand special poison!"

"You no good scumbag!" yelled Weiss, about to grab another Pokémon on her belt. "Release her or-"

"NO!" yelled Tyrian. "Hands up or else I kill her!"

Realizing they had no choice if they wanted to save Ruby, Blake and Weiss placed their hands in the air and stood still. With the needle just mere millimeters from her neck, Ruby was paralyzed with fear, hoping to not get pricked by that needle.

Elsewhere, the Swords continued to stay in position and observe the situation calmly, save for Keldeo who began to get anxious about Ruby getting taken hostage.

"If he injects that thing into her, she could die!" said Keldeo. "We have to do something!"

"We must not get ourselves involved in the affairs of humans!" said Cobalion. "We will remain here!"

Before Keldeo could make a move, Terrakion stood in front of Keldeo to block them, knowing full well what Keldeo wanted to do.

"Remember our oath, Keldeo," said Terrakion. "We protect the Pokémon, not the humans."

"...of course," replied Keldeo, turning around to walk off. After distancing themselves from Terrakion, Keldeo suddenly turned back and sprinted at Terrakion, jumping on top of their hard body and bouncing off. With Keldeo getting a head start on the others, they sprinted towards Ruby and Tyrian.

"Keldeo, get back here!" shouted Cobalion, chasing after Keldeo.

Meanwhile, with Ruby now a hostage, Tyrian now had the leverage to get what he wanted.

"Throw the orb to my feet!" said Tyrian. "Do it or else the girl gets it!"

"Okay," said Blake, slowly bending down and grabbing the Griseous Orb. "I'm going to toss it underhanded-"

"JUST DO IT!"

Not wanting to risk setting Tyrian off - which seemed very easy to do given Tyrian's mental state - Blake immediately threw the orb towards Tyrian's feet and put her hands back up.

"You've got the orb!" yelled Weiss. "Now let go of Ruby!"

"I suppose it's only fair I keep my end of the trade," said Tyrian. "But then again...what's to stop me from doing both?"

Tyrian chuckled as he lightly placed his thumb on the end of his needle. Weiss was getting angry that Tyrian wasn't keeping to his own oath.

"I swear to Arceus if you-"

"And what if I do?" replied Tyrian. "What are you going to do to stop me? In fact, I don't like that tone of voice! Hearing people yell at me like that makes me-"

"LET HER GO!" yelled Keldeo.

Tyrian turned around to see who was yelling when he was suddenly struck on the back with what appeared to be a sword made of light. The force of the blow caused Tyrian to lose his grip on Ruby and drop his needle. Tyrian fell to his knees as his back writhed in pain; Blake and Weiss immediately ran over to pull Ruby back. Blake checked Ruby's neck to make sure the needle didn't go through.

"It doesn't look like he injected it," said Blake. "Are you okay, Ruby?"

"I'm fine," said Ruby. "But what..."

The trio looked towards the source of the voice that saved Ruby. As Tyrian crawled over to grab the orb, a Pokémon from behind Tyrian jumped in between them and pointed his sword of light at Tyrian. Now Tyrian was the one who had his hands up in the air thanks to this mysterious savior. Seeing the Pokémon's long red mane and bushy sky-blue tail, Ruby instantly recognized who it was and gasped.

"No way!" shouted Ruby. "That's...that's Keldeo the kind!"

"Keldeo?" said Weiss. "Like from that fairy tale? Impossible!"

"Human!" exclaimed Keldeo. "Drop the orb or face justice!"

"What...what are you?" asked a surprised Tyrian.

"I am a Sword of Justice! Surrender the orb and run away, or else you'll leave me no choice but to fight you!"

"You hear that?" whispered Ruby. "They said Sword of Justice!"

"I still don't believe it," whispered Weiss back.

Tyrian glanced around to figure out a way to get out of this situation, and noticed his poisonous needle was nearly within reach, giving Tyrian an idea.

"Very well," said Tyrian. "I see now I would be no match for you. You may have your orb back."

Tyrian released his grip on the orb, letting it fall to the ground between them. Since Tyrian let go of the orb, Keldeo retracted his Sacred Sword and went to grab the orb. While Keldeo was doing so, Tyrian lunged for his needle and stood back up.

"And die in the process!" said Tyrian, ramming his needle into the rear of Keldeo, injecting his entire batch of poison. Keldeo instantly felt his body convulsing in pain as he collapsed, his organs feeling like they were burning in flames. Tyrian then turned and ran deep into the forest to make his getaway.

"Oh no!" yelled Ruby. "Keldeo!"

"After him, Greninja!" commanded Blake.

Greninja chased after Tyrian, hoping to catch up before he lost track of Tyrian. Blake picked up the Griseous Orb while Ruby and Weiss were tending to Keldeo.

"Keldeo, talk to me!" said Ruby. "How are you feeling?"

"I...uuuuh," muttered Keldeo before wheezing violently. Weiss placed the back of her hand on Keldeo's forehead, feeling Keldeo's temperature quickly rising.

"This is serious," said Weiss. "We need to get them to a Pokémon Center immediately."

"That will not be necessary, humans!"

Everyone turned towards the new voice and found themselves in the presence of even more stallion Pokémon. The trainers instantly recognized them as the remaining legendary heroes, the Swords of Justice. Ruby and Weiss were shocked to see them in person, while Blake remained stoic as usual.

"Oh my Arceus, it's really them!" said Weiss. "The Swords of Justice are real!"

"You can freak out about it later," said Blake. "What do you mean it won't be necessary?"

"We will take Keldeo with us," said Cobalion. "You will not bring them to one of your Pokémon Centers!"

"What?" said Ruby. "But they're really sick! They need medical treatment!"

"Then we will find a cure for them, not rely on human medicine!"

"Wait a second," said Blake. "I'm not sure what your problem is with human medicine, but Ruby's right. Keldeo needs special treatment and the more time we waste here, the less of a chance they have of surviving the poison."

"C'mon!" said Ruby, trying to lift up Keldeo. "If we hurry we could-"

Cobalion suddenly formed their Sacred Sword and pointed it towards Ruby. Even Blake was surprised to see Cobalion's reaction.

"Let go of Keldeo this instant!" yelled Cobalion.

"But they're sick!" said Ruby. "What can you-"

"Let go of them or I will FORCE YOU to let go!"

Ruby was confused and distraught. She never expected to be threatened by the Swords of Justice of all people and Pokémon. Sylveon stood in front of Ruby and Keldeo in case Cobalion tried to attack them. Blake and Weiss couldn't believe the Swords being so antagonizing towards them, and neither of them were happy about it.

"Excuse me?" said Weiss. "Was that supposed to be a threat?"

"We don't make threats, foolish human," said Virizion.

"Is that so? Because if you're looking to fight us-"

"Wait a second!" said Ruby. "I don't want to fight! I just want to help Keldeo!"

"Then remove yourself from them or else!" said Cobalion.

"I don't know who you Swords of supposed 'Justice' think you are," said Weiss, "but if you're going to make threats against us...I'm going to take you all out!"

Weiss called out her powerful three-headed Dragon, Hydreigon. Hearing the Hydreigon roar caused the three Swords of Justice to turn their attention to Hydreigon; despite Hydreigon's intimidating form, the Swords were not impressed by Weiss' Pokémon.

"You honestly think your Dragon is tough enough to fight all of us?" asked Terrakion.

"Perhaps the humans think three heads somehow equates to fighting three of us," remarked Virizion.

"You're not talking to some run-of-the-mill amateur," boasted Weiss, talking like her old arrogant self. "I've only been beaten once in a battle, and my Hydreigon knows a move that far outclasses that so-called 'Sacred Sword' of yours!"

"Now I definitely want to fight this human!" said Terrakion.

"Stand down, Terrakion!" said Cobalion. "I will silence this arrogant fool myself! The two of you take Keldeo and get out of here!"

"Very well," said Virizion. Virizion turned back to face Ruby, only to realize that Ruby, Keldeo, and Blake had suddenly vanished. "Cobalion! Keldeo and the humans are gone!"

"What?" yelled Cobalion. Cobalion turned around to see they had in fact made their escape thanks to Weiss' distraction.

"Looks like Ruby already got a head start," said Weiss, recalling her Hydreigon. "If you wish to be with Keldeo, we'll be waiting at the Pokémon Center."

"You're not going anywhere!" said Terrakion. Terrakion got ready to charge at Weiss when Cobalion stood in the way, allowing Weiss to run away.

"Forget it, Terrakion," said Cobalion. "Harming this human will not help us bring back Keldeo."

"Then what do we do now, Cobalion?"

"We will reconvene at the Pokémon Center when the time is right. Keldeo will come back with us one way or another."

#

With Blake's help, Ruby was able to get to the Pokémon Center and explain the situation with Keldeo. The staff nurses immediately went to work trying to extract the poison out of Keldeo's body and make sure their internal organs recovered, a procedure that was going to take several hours.

The time was approaching midnight; the center was empty save for the staff working overtime to save Keldeo, with only Ruby and Yang waiting in the visitor center. Ruby was sitting on a couch with Sylveon, trying everything she could to not fall asleep.

"Get some sleep, Ruby," said Yang. "Keldeo isn't going to get better by you staying up."

"But I want to make sure they're healthy as soon as I can," said Ruby before letting out a big yawn.

"Why? In case those other Swords of Justice show up?"

Ruby crossed her arms while gripping her shirt, worrying about the Swords appearing again. Sylveon tried to wrap her ribbons around Ruby to cheer her up.

"It was hard enough to believe those things were real," said Ruby, "but to think they were acting like such jerks."

"Seems like that fairy tale wasn't very accurate. But don't worry, Ruby! If those Swords decide they want to start trouble, Celica and I will be here to-"

With the center being dead quiet, the sounds of the automatic doors opening out front echoed in the visitor's area, causing Yang to nearly jump out of her skin. She grabbed her Poké Ball and turned around to see if it was the Swords, only for Weiss to walk in instead.

"You have some awful timing, Schnee!" said Yang.

"I came to find out how Keldeo was doing," said Weiss. "Have they improved at all?"

"The nurses haven't said anything," said Ruby. "I hope we weren't too late!"

"You did everything you could, Ruby. You were definitely more helpful than those...do they even deserve to be called the Swords of Justice?"

"The Swords part is accurate," said Yang. "Justice not so much."

"Maybe they were just really worried about Keldeo!" said Ruby. "You know, kind of like how someone overreacts if their family was in trouble?"

"That was more than a mere overreaction!" said Weiss. "Those things were ready to fight us! Their leader was threatening to attack you!"

"I'm sure it was a misunderstanding! Once Keldeo is all healed up we can meet them again and..."

Ruby suddenly went silent as her eyes went wide. Sylveon turned and suddenly jumped to the floor, growling at something behind Yang and Weiss. The girls turned around and saw the Swords of Justice had arrive, staring back at them.

"So, this is what a Pokémon Center looks like from the inside," said Virizion. "Doesn't look half bad considering the humans built it."

"It won't look as bad as your face when I'm through with you!" yelled Yang, getting ready to call out Celica.

"Yang, wait!" said Ruby. "I just want to talk to them! Cobalion, please...can we talk?"

"Talk we shall," said Cobalion. "Our first order of business: Where is Keldeo?"

"They're still with the nurses performing the surgery. I haven't gotten an update on their current condition."

"Then we shall remain here until Keldeo has recovered. Unless you're lying about their whereabouts-"

"She's not lying!" said Yang. "Why must you assume she's lying?"

"Because you're humans."

"Okay, did a human kill your mother or something? Because I'm getting sick-"

"Yang, please!" interrupted Ruby. "Cobalion, I swear on my honor as a Pokémon trainer, Keldeo is here and is currently in surgery."

"You know...this center was quite a distance from the area, and you don't look physically strong enough to have carried Keldeo. How exactly were you able to do so?"

"Oh. Well...I needed to get Keldeo here as fast as possible, so I figured to put them inside a Poké Ball, so I wouldn't have to worry about carrying them!"

"You put Keldeo...in a Poké Ball?" said Cobalion. "You CAPTURED Keldeo?"

"Technically I guess I did," said Ruby. "But don't worry! I'll release them as soon as they get healthy again!"

"You...captured..."

Cobalion growled as everyone could see veins start to form on Cobalion's head. Needless to say, Cobalion was furious at knowing Ruby had caught Keldeo like they were any other Pokémon. Fearing Cobalion was about to attack, Weiss and Yang grabbed the Poké Balls containing their signature Pokémon, while Sylveon stood by to fight them off. Terrakion and Virizion stood in front of Cobalion before they can act.

"Calm yourself, Cobalion," said Virizion. "I'm not happy about her actions either, but she does appear to be true to her word."

"Yeah," said Terrakion. "It's not like she's one of those poachers trying to harm the little fellow."

"She may not be as ruthless as some poacher," said Cobalion, "but I refuse to believe her! In the end she is still a human, and I intend to-"

"Cobalion? Masters? What are you doing here?"

Hearing that gentle voice, everyone turned to see Keldeo slowly walk out with a nurse by their side and some bandages around their waist.

"Keldeo!" said Cobalion. "Are you all right?"

"I'm great!" said Keldeo. "The people here were so helpful! I feel almost as good as new!"

"We suggest taking it easy for a couple of days to fully recover," said the nurse.

"I'm relieved you're okay, Keldeo!" said Ruby, running up to Keldeo and hugging them. "I owe you for saving my life!"

"Considering you helped save mine," said Keldeo, "I think we're even!"

As disgusted as Cobalion still felt towards Ruby and the others, they were glad to see Keldeo back on their feet and looking okay. Cobalion decided to withdraw from starting a fight.

"You get a pass this time, human," said Cobalion.

"So, we're cool now, right?" said Ruby. "Keldeo goes back with you and everything is okay now?"

"Not yet. There's still one other piece of business we have with you humans."

"What now?" said Yang.

"Where is the orb that man was holding?"

"Orb?" said Ruby. "Oh right, the Griseous Orb! I completely forgot about that!"

"I spoke with Miss Church about it," said Weiss. "That vigilante returned the orb and they're transferring it to Haven Academy."

"Then this Haven Academy is where we shall go next!" said Cobalion.

"Could it wait?" said Yang. "It's late and I think we can all use some sleep right now. If you Swords want, we can meet up at Haven Academy first thing tomorrow morning and sort this whole thing out."

"And what makes you think-"

"Sure!" said Keldeo. "We'll all meet up tomorrow morning, right Cobalion?"

Cobalion wished Keldeo had not blurted out that they'd agree to the humans' demand, but they couldn't back out and justify to the humans that it was the Swords acting as the hostile party.

"...very well," said a reluctant Cobalion. "We will appear at that location by sunrise. I suggest you be there waiting for us, humans."

With their business finished, the Swords left the Pokémon Center without further incident. Keldeo turned their head back as if they wanted to say something, but thought twice in case it further angered Cobalion.


	3. Of Colts and Cults

Ruby, Weiss, and Yang made sure to get up early and arrive at the courtyard of Haven Academy just before sunrise, not wanting to give the Swords of Justice a chance to wreak havoc or whatever they planned to do if they were the only ones here. Sure enough, as soon as the sun peaked over the horizon, the Swords of Justice arrived in the courtyard. Keldeo immediately ran up to greet Ruby.

"Hey Ruby!" said Keldeo. "Good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too, Keldeo," said Ruby. "Feeling any better?"

"Sort of. It hurts to sleep on my stomach, but at least it doesn't feel like I'm on fire."

"Well, if there's anything else I can do to help-"

"Your help will not be needed," said Cobalion sternly. Ruby and Keldeo took it as a sign to keep quiet. "Now then, where is the Griseous Orb?"

"Miss Church will escort us shortly," said Weiss.

"She had best not keep us waiting for long."

"How about we kill some time by getting to know each other?" asked Yang.

"No thank you," said Virizion. "The less I have to know about you humans, the better."

"Fine with me. The less time I have to deal with you obnoxious jerks, the better!"

Yang muttered something under her breath that sounded like a swear word. Weiss was also getting anxious, clearly not being comfortable with having to hang around the legendary Pokémon that yesterday nearly attacked them. Sylveon kept her eyes on Cobalion, ready to fight the moment Cobalion hinted at threatening Ruby again. Sensing the thick amount of tension between everyone, Ruby and Keldeo gave each other the same worried look; they were hoping their respective species would at least try to get along just for today.

Thankfully, Church soon came to the courtyard to greet everyone.

"Good morning, everyone!" greeted Church. "I see we've got quite a crowd here today!"

"Good morning, Miss Church!" said Ruby. "Long time no see!"

"Good to see you again too, Ruby! And please, you can just call me Allison. 'Miss Church' is just so...formal."

Church's attention was soon turned towards the Pokémon standing amongst the trainers. Church had been told that these legendaries would be coming with Ruby, but she couldn't help but get overwhelmed with excitement about meeting them in person.

"IT'S REALLY THEM!" yelled Church. "The legendary Swords of Justice!"

Church went up to the Swords of Justice and gawked over their appearance. The other trainers, having known what the Swords were like outside of Keldeo, were off-put by Church's enthusiasm.

"Cobalion the courageous, Virizion the vain, Terrakion the tough, and Keldeo the kind! Masters of the Sacred Sword, the move that can take down any foe in their way!"

"Um...my Aegislash can use that move too," said Weiss.

"But these are the legendaries that perfected, nay, INVENTED that move!"

"Actually," said Cobalion, "our master invented that move."

"Master? You have a master? They must be one of the most powerful Pokémon ever! Where is this master of yours?"

"They have since passed centuries ago. Our master taught us everything we know and was the one who came up with both the Sacred Sword and Secret Sword techniques."

"Oh. That's a shame...wait a second! Did you say...SECRET Sword? I've never heard of that one before!"

"Neither have I," said Weiss. Weiss took out her Pokédex style Scroll and pulled up the scroll's A.I. program, Penny. "Penny, tell me about the move Secret Sword."

"I'm sorry," said Penny, "but that move is not in my database."

"Guess that's why they call it a secret," said Yang.

"You've GOT to show us this Secret Sword!" said Church. "Pretty please?"

"Even if we decided to give in to your ridiculous demand," said Cobalion, "none of us are capable of using the move. It was a powerful technique that only our master was able to wield. Not even we were able to learn how to use it before their passing."

"Why not?" asked Ruby. "Did your master never teach it?"

"Our master said the only way to master the Secret Sword was to find our 'true resolution.' To this day we don't understand what our master meant by those words. We've always had our resolution to protect the Pokémon of this world."

"Yeah!" said Keldeo. "It's part of our oath!"

Keldeo stood in position and created their Sacred Sword. The other Swords stood around and created their Sacred Swords, crossing their blades in the air as Cobalion exclaimed their oath.

"We will bring justice to those who harm innocent Pokémon! To protect all Pokémon who can't protect themselves! That is our resolution!"

"So cool," muttered Ruby.

"Now then, back to business!" said Cobalion. "Where is the Griseous Orb?"

"Guess it's time to be serious," said Church. "Follow me."

The Church took the group of trainers and Pokémon into the main building where Haven's science and research lab was setup. In the corner of the room was the Griseous Orb, locked behind a glass capsule that could only be unlocked by Haven Academy personnel. Standing in front of the capsule was the vigilante that helped secure the orb back from Tyrian.

"Oh, hey Blake!" said Ruby. "When did you get here?"

"Since last night," said Blake. "I wanted to make sure this orb was protected at all costs."

"You did well to protect it," said Cobalion. "We'll be taking it back now."

"I'm sorry?" said Church. "I don't remember being told we were giving it back."

"Because we're not," said Blake. "Sorry Cobalion, but I need this orb to-"

"To what?" yelled Cobalion. "Do you plan to bring back Salem as well?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I plan to stop that cult at all costs. That's why-"

"Enough!" said Terrakion, stomping one of their hoofs. "We tried asking nicely! If you're not gonna give us the orb, we're gonna fight for it!"

"I wouldn't mind that idea!" replied Yang.

"Wait a minute!" said Ruby. "Can everyone just chill out for a moment, so we can discuss this?"

"Yeah!" said Keldeo. "If she already has a plan, maybe we can help her!"

"Of course you'd want to help them, Keldeo," said Virizion. "You're still naive enough to think humans are trustworthy."

"They were trustworthy enough to bring me to the Pokémon Center after I was poisoned!"

"And you were the one dumb enough to get poisoned in the first place!"

The trainers were surprised to see Virizion act so insensitive to Keldeo, though Cobalion and Terrakion stared firmly at Keldeo as if they agreed with Virizion's sentiments. Keldeo seemed to be on the verge of tears when the metal doors to the lab opened. An older gentleman wearing a suit came in, looking like he was worried about something.

"Oh my," said the gentleman. "I wasn't expecting this much company. Is everything all right?"

"Not really," said Church. "Everyone, meet Haven's headmaster, Leo Lionheart. He's helping us store the orb here in case that cult tries to attack again."

"Did something happen?" asked Leo.

"I think we're all a bit stressed about the situation."

"I don't blame you. Perhaps some tea will calm everyone's nerves?"

"That's a good idea! Would the Swords of Justice like anything?"

With none of the Swords replying, Lionheart went to gather tea for his company. Keldeo wiped the tears in their eyes, but Sylveon could sense how deeply upset they were, so she wrapped her ribbons around Keldeo to cheer them up. The other Swords huddled up to discuss what they should do now.

"What should we do, Cobalion?" asked Terrakion.

"Let us hear out what the humans have to say," said Cobalion. "Then we shall make our move."

"It's a waste of time if you ask me," said Virizion.

"I know, but let us at least humor them for Keldeo's sake."

Lionheart soon returned with a fresh batch of Mistralian tea. As everyone took a minute to drink and calm down, Lionheart went up to the Swords and smiled.

"I must say," said Lionheart, "it's quite a shock to be in the presence of such legendary heroic Pokémon. I've always used the Swords of Justice as an example to my students about the importance of teamwork and bravery."

"I don't care much for flattery, human," replied Cobalion.

"I don't mind it at all," said Virizion, putting on a smug grin.

"Because of course you don't," said Terrakion, rolling his eyes at Virizion taking in the praise.

"I see the tales weren't lying when they referred to you as Virizion the vain," said Lionheart. "Then I take it Terrakion the tough refers to your love of fighting?"

"You bet!" said Terrakion. "I'll even demonstrate how tough I am now!"

"And Cobalion is your leader because of their courage and wit. Though I must say, I find it odd Keldeo here is referred to as the 'kind;' are you all not kind as well?"

The other trainers gave each other looks, wondering if any of them should inform Lionheart about how "kind" these heroes were to them.

"Of course, they are!" said Keldeo. "We're the Swords of Justice, kind to all Pokémon in need!"

"Perhaps the old tales couldn't come up with a better 'K' word for you."

 _"Or maybe it's because they're a little too kind,"_ thought Ruby, wondering why Keldeo would stick up for the Swords after what they said to them.

"Now that we're all in a better mood," said Church, putting aside her tea, "let's try to recap what we know. For starters, how many of you are aware about the Cult of Salem?"

"I only know of the rumors," said Weiss.

"Same," said Ruby and Yang.

"I'm fully aware," said Blake. "They wish to bring Salem back to our world by collecting the orbs associated with the Triad of Creation."

"And who are 'they', exactly?" asked Ruby.

"There are three members with highly infamous profiles. The leader is Doctor Arthur Watts, a scientist from Atlas known for his inhumane experiments on Pokémon. His two cohorts are Hazel Rainart and Tyrian Callows. Hazel was banned worldwide in competitive battles for his extreme violence, and Tyrian is a lunatic obsessed with his poisons."

"And how did you find out about them?" asked Yang.

"While on my mission to stop the White Fang under Cinder's control, I learned that Cinder had loose connections to the big three. She planned to help them bring Salem back if it meant she'd have a chance of capturing powerful Pokémon with the help of Mewtwo, so I made sure to keep tabs on the Cult's activities while stopping Cinder. When the news broke about the Griseous Orb being discovered and put on display, I figured it was only a matter of time before they showed up."

"So, we know they want the orbs to bring back Salem," said Ruby, "but then how are they going to do it?"

"By going to Kuchinashi Mountain," replied Cobalion.

"Huh? Why there?"

"According to the legends passed down by our ancestors, that mountain is where Arceus was born and created this world along with its first two creations: Dialga and Palkia, who had the powers to control the forces of time and space respectively."

"Then where exactly does Giratina fit in this story?" asked Church.

"Giratina was created shortly after the creation of Dialga and Palkia. Arceus granted them great powers via the orbs connected to each one. However, Giratina went mad with the power granted to them and wreaked havoc on the world Arceus had created. As punishment for their actions, Arceus banished Giratina to another world where time and gravity did not exist."

"So the texts were right after all!" said Church, excited to hear what was sure to become a major breakthrough for Pokémon Science. "Although...that doesn't explain why Giratina was born in the first place."

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Salem is real," said Yang. "That fairy tale where you Swords fought Salem and Giratina...that was real?"

"Indeed," said Cobalion. "It was many centuries ago, but that battle still rings fresh in my mind. Salem was a human who had practiced dark magic. She sought out the orbs and used them to summon Giratina to destroy this world and reshape it in her image. Thankfully, the four of us were barely able to defeat her and Giratina, and we used the orbs to reopen the other world and banished Salem along with Giratina."

"This might sound like a stupid question," said Ruby, "but...why didn't you destroy the orbs immediately afterwards?"

"We tried that. Turns out Arceus made them practically unbreakable. We instead decided to hide the orbs in various parts of the world, far from the reach of humans."

"But we've underestimated how far humans have evolved their capabilities," said Virizion. "If the Griseous Orb could be found, it's only a matter of time the other two may be discovered."

"Unfortunately," said Blake, "I have some bad news. One of them was possibly already found."

"Another orb was found?" yelled Cobalion, shocked to hear this sudden revelation.

"Wait, what?" said Church. "You mean...I wasn't even the first person to discover the orbs?"

"Take a look at this," said Blake.

Blake pulled out her scroll and opened a local news article written roughly a week ago. The article was about some local treasure hunters auctioning off various jewels they found in the ocean. In the article was a picture previewing some of the finds, including a large orb with a mix pentagon and hexagon pattern.

"See that large object amongst all the other junk? I believe that to be one of the orbs."

"It is!" said Church, sounding upset. "I can tell from the pattern that it's the Adamant Orb! Why in the world would they sell it? This is like capturing Mew and trading it for a Bidoof!"

"They likely had no idea what they stumbled upon. But odds are, that Cult knew what it was and may have gotten their hands on it first."

Church suddenly let out a loud whine and balled herself up into a corner of the room.

"Are you all right, Allison?" asked Ruby.

"How could I be knowing Mistral's science community is non-existent?" cried Church. "Letting the Adamant Orb slip through the cracks like this!"

"I think that's the least of our worries right now," replied Weiss. As cringy as Church's behavior was, Sylveon went over to cheer her up.

"Perhaps we give these humans too much credit," said Virizion.

"Although, speaking about slipping through cracks...there's something that's been bothering me about what happened yesterday."

"About what?" asked Ruby.

"How did that Tyrian creep get into the museum for the event? It was private invitation only and we had security check everyone!"

"Perhaps the Rangers were too lax," said Blake.

"Watch it, vigilante!" replied Yang. "We had everyone checked before they got in! Not one person who was there was an uninvited guest!"

"But then that means whoever invited him," said Ruby, "must be part of the cult!"

"A traitor amongst the humans," said Cobalion. "I'm not surprised."

"Then who was it that sent the invites?" asked Yang. "It wasn't you, was it Miss Church?"

Having gotten the disappointment out of her system, Church quickly stood up to address Yang.

"It was a Schnee Corporation sponsored event," said Church. "I was told they would handle all the invites sent out."

"As if we would ever send some shady nobody an invite!" yelled Weiss.

An awkward silence fell in the room from Weiss' sudden outburst. Weiss took a deep breath and regained her composure.

"Um...what I meant to say is it's possible someone we gave an invite to handed it to him instead. I'll contact the company and have them run a checklist of everyone we sent invites to."

"While that mystery is getting solved," said Church, "let's get back to focusing on the orbs."

"We have the Griseous Orb here," said Blake, "and assuming they have the Adamant Orb, that leaves us with one orb left."

"The Lustrous Orb," said Cobalion. "I still remember where we hid that one."

"You don't think they'd be able to retrieve that one," said Virizion, "do you Cobalion?"

"Yeah," said Terrakion. "You made it so even we'd have a hard time getting it!"

"We can't leave this one up to chance," said Cobalion. "We'll have to find a way to obtain it before the humans do."

"And we'll help you!" said Ruby. "All together, we'll have all the orbs in no time!"

"On the contrary, human. We will search for the other orbs ourselves. You will remain out of our way, unless you want to end up in the same condition as Keldeo."

"Likewise," said Blake. "I won't hesitate to take any of you Swords out if you refuse to help us."

"But we're all on the same side!" said Keldeo. "Why can't all of us work together?"

"You know why, Keldeo!" replied Cobalion.

Ruby groaned to herself as the Swords and the others started bickering again about not wanting to help each other.

 _"At this rate, there's no way we can stop the Cult of Salem,"_ thought Ruby. _"There's got to be some way I can convince the Swords of Justice to help us!"_

 _"Ruby, can you hear me?"_ said a deep familiar voice in her thoughts. Ruby recognized that voice as Mewtwo, who had the ability to telepathically talk to Ruby while still in the Master Ball.

 _"Is that you, Mewtwo? What's up?"_

 _"Call me out. I wish to speak to these Swords of Justice."_

 _"I take it you want to try and convince them to help? I'm not sure if they'll listen, but it's worth a try."_

"Excuse me!" said Ruby, interrupting everyone's conversation. "Swords, there's someone who wants to speak with you."

Ruby reached down for her Master Ball and called out Mewtwo. The other trainers were surprised to see Mewtwo suddenly appear and knew it had to be serious if they insisted on talking to the Swords of Justice.

"Who...or what are you?" asked Cobalion.

"My name is Mewtwo," said Mewtwo. "I am a genetically modified clone of Mew, created to be the world's strongest Pokémon."

"You were created by humans?" said Keldeo. "I've never heard of a Pokémon like that before!"

"Created by humans, you say?" said Cobalion. "Then you must be the one that caused the attack in Vale. What is it that you want, Mewtwo?"

"I ask that you reconsider your stance with asking the humans for help," said Mewtwo.

"You honestly expect to change my mind? Your creation is living proof of why we can't trust the humans!"

"It is true that my creation represents a dark portion of humanity. I understand why you would hesitate to trust humans, but I insist that you work alongside Ruby and her allies. We all share a common enemy with this Cult of Salem. Is the enemy of my enemy not my friend?"

"All the humans are our enemy. You may think some humans are trustworthy, but I know deep down they all have a penchant for evil."

"So you think you're the only heroes around here?" asked Yang.

"Are you saying that we're somehow the villains?" replied Cobalion.

"Maybe not villains per say, but it wasn't exactly heroic to threaten my sister over helping Keldeo!"

"We were merely being protective of our apprentice!"

"Then about this?" said Weiss. "If you're so heroic, why didn't you try stopping the White Fang and Mewtwo when New Vale City got attacked? Surely you must have known about those events!"

"It did happen on the other side of the world though," said Ruby.

"We were quite aware about the attack occurring in Vale," said Cobalion. "However, our oath is to protect Pokémon. It was the humans who allowed Mewtwo to be created, and it was humans who suffered their own wrath."

"Quite frankly," said Virizion, "the world would be better off without such awful cities populating the world."

"A majority of the world's disasters like Mewtwo are caused by humans," said Terrakion. "We see no reason to fight for humans when they cause their own demise."

"But not everyone is like that, though!" said Ruby. "There was lots of innocent people who got seriously hurt in that attack!"

"Then you only have yourselves to blame," said Cobalion.

The trainers didn't know how to reply to such a cold-hearted comment. They didn't like how the Swords dismissed such a big attack and didn't care about the people who got hurt, but they weren't wrong about it being the humans' own fault.

"Cobalion," said Mewtwo. "I wish to say more, but away from the prying eyes and ears of the humans. Let us take this conversation elsewhere."

"Take it elsewhere?" said Cobalion. "How do I know this is not some kind of setup?"

"You have my word as a Pokémon."

"A human-made Pokémon," remarked Virizion.

"Regardless of their origin," said Cobalion, "they are still a Pokémon nonetheless. Very well, Mewtwo. Let us meet outside the walls of this academy."

Cobalion lead the Swords out of the lab, with Mewtwo following closely behind. Unsure that it was a good idea for Mewtwo to be alone with them, Blake got up to secretly follow them.

"Wait, Blake," said Ruby. "Let Mewtwo handle this one."

"Are you sure that's wise?" asked Blake. "What if they wind up coming to blows?"

"I'm with her on this one," said Yang. "Between Mewtwo's past and the Swords ready to throw down, I wouldn't be surprised if they went after each other's throats."

"I'm sure Mewtwo will find a way to convince them without it coming to that," said Ruby.

"Arceus help us that they do," said Weiss.

#

North of Haven City was a small town known as the Wind Path, which became infamous for housing many of Mistral's notorious criminals. Just about everyone in the town had some shady connection to the criminal underworld, and anyone who didn't weren't around very long for one reason or another. Inside the town's pub were two of the big three in the Cult of Salem, waiting for their poisonous ally to return with the Griseous Orb.

"He's late," said Hazel, sitting impatiently with his arms crossed. "Are you sure it was best to send him for the job?"

"As opposed to sending you?" replied Watts, taking a sip of his tea. "You would stick out like a sore thumb amongst the crowd, and a fellow scientist like me would easily be recognized. I'm sure Tyrian is simply enjoying his time with the orb."

"If he doesn't show up in exactly one minute, I'm leaving."

"You must really learn to be patient, my good man. Come, drink your tea before it gets cold."

Hazel grabbed his cup and downed his entire drink before slamming the cup back down on the table, shattering the glass and nearly putting a dent in the table. The sudden shattering of glass caught everyone's attention, but no one said a word in fear of ticking off the man. Watts simply shook his head and sighed. Before he can lecture Hazel about his temper, in walked Tyrian, keeping his hands in his trench coat pocket and looking jittery as he stood at the table.

"You've finally arrived," said Watts. "Is everything all right?"

"Where's the orb?" asked Hazel, getting straight to the point.

"I...lost it," whispered Tyrian.

"Come again?" asked Watts. "It sounds like you said-"

"He lost it!" said Hazel, slamming the table with his fists, causing the thing to nearly collapse on itself. "I knew this idiot would screw up!"

"I can explain!" said Tyrian. "I had successfully snatched the orb from the museum, only to be followed by this vigilante and some other trainers!"

"Are you saying you lost the orb to some random Pokémon trainers?"

"It wasn't just them! Some kind of talking Pokémon claiming to be a Sword of Justice got in my way and made me lose the queen's precious orb!"

"Sword of Justice, you say?" replied Watts. "So...the Swords are in fact still around."

"What are you talking about?" asked Hazel.

"Have you never read the fairy tale of Giratina and the Swords of Justice? They were the legendary foursome who defeated Salem many centuries ago. It appears they're still around and once again preventing Salem from arriving."

"Legendary Pokémon or not, he still lost the orb! Our plans are going to be ruined!"

"Once again Hazel, you prove to me how you are all muscle and no brain."

Watts took another sip of his tea as Hazel growled at Watts' remarks. Watts smirked and tapped the side of his head.

"I've already made a contingency plan should one of the orbs falls out of our hands. As long as our informant on the inside keeps their end of the bargain, we'll be retrieving all the orbs regardless of who obtains them first. What we should plan now is how to deal with these trainers and Swords of Justice, as we are bound to cross paths once again."

"What about finding the other orb?" asked Hazel. "We still don't have any idea where it could be."

"I have a feeling we'll be finding out shortly. Gentlemen, a toast to the eventual arrival of our queen."

Watts held up his glass, while Hazel picked up one of his broken shards. Tyrian laughed as he picked up a shard as well, excited to know his queen was coming soon.

#

It had only been about ten minutes since Mewtwo and the Swords left, but each minute passing by just made everyone back in Haven Academy more anxious, wondering what Mewtwo could be doing with the Swords right now.

Ruby was the most anxious out of everyone there, as she knew if Mewtwo wound up doing something awful, she was surely going to be held responsible for it. Ruby was pacing around the entire lab, trying her best to find something else to occupy her mind, but all she could think about was how Mewtwo could possibly convince the Swords to help.

 _"Keldeo may have been willing to help,"_ thought Ruby, _"but Cobalion is completely against the idea. If they had no problem threatening us over the orb and don't even care about humans getting harmed, how can Mewtwo possibly change their mind?"_

Ruby kept walking around the room until she reached the capsule holding the Griseous Orb. Lionheart was staring at the orb while gripping his arms and shaking. Even though everyone in the room were a bit tense about what was happening, Lionheart looked like he was about to freak out at any given moment.

"Mister Lionheart, are you okay?" asked Ruby.

"What?" said Lionheart. "Oh, yes! I'm just fine!"

"You don't look fine. You're staring at that orb like you're scared of it."

"...to be honest? Yes, I am quite scared. I'm scared about what will happen if Giratina was somehow brought back to our world. The texts mentioned how Giratina destroyed so much land when they came back from the other world; I fear about it happening to my students and the people of Haven City."

"I'm a bit worried too...but then I remember that Giratina was already beaten once! Even if the Swords don't like us, I'm sure they'll stop Giratina again, and if not, my friends and I will stop them just like we stopped the White Fang!"

Ruby smiled and threw out a thumbs up, hoping to instill some confidence in Lionheart. Lionheart sighed and kept fidgeting with his hands; Ruby's smile turned into a frown, disappointed that Lionheart didn't seem comforted by Ruby's words. Ruby sat down and sighed, feeling exhausted mentally and physically.

"Sylveon?" said Sylveon, asking if Ruby was okay.

"I don't know anymore, Sylveon," said Ruby. "Between Cobalion acting like a jerk and nobody getting along and this cult trying to summon Giratina...I feel like Keldeo and I are the only ones willing to work together and save the world."

"Sylveon," replied Sylveon, feeling as upset as Ruby.

As soon as the lab doors opened again, everyone looked up to see Mewtwo and the Swords of Justice return. Ruby noticed that all of them appeared the same way as they left, so at least they didn't break out into a fight as Ruby hoped, but Ruby was expecting to hear the bad news any moment now.

"So, what's the deal?" asked Yang.

"We've come to an agreement," said Cobalion. "We shall all work together to find the orbs and gather them all here."

"You mean it?" said Ruby. "All of us working together?"

"And you're going to let us keep the orbs here?" asked Church.

"Indeed, humans," replied Cobalion.

Hearing Cobalion suddenly agree to work with Ruby and her friends felt like the dark clouds looming over everyone suddenly vanished. Ruby wanted to cheer and thank the Swords for changing their mind but decided to wait and hear out what else Cobalion had in mind.

"As for how we shall find the orbs, I propose we split into two teams. Each team will consist of two of us and two of you, so each side has equal Pokémon and humans."

"Sounds fair enough," said Weiss. "Have you decided on the teams already?"

"Keldeo and I will search for the Lustrous Orb, while Terrakion and Virizion will search for the Adamant Orb."

"And I want Ruby to come with us!" said Keldeo.

"You got it!" said Ruby. "Um...if it's okay with you, Cobalion."

"If Keldeo insists, so be it," replied Cobalion.

"I'll come with you as well," replied Blake.

"Then I guess this leaves the rest of us to find the Adamant Orb," said Yang.

"But who will protect the orb here while you're searching for the others?" asked Lionheart.

"I'll call up Uncle Qrow and ask for the Rangers to keep watch of this place."

"Looks like we're already set," said Weiss. "Let's go over our plans together."

The trainers and Swords gathered around to discuss the greater details of where the two other orbs were likely located, and how they planned to deal with whatever member of the Cult of Salem they'd run into.

"We'll be waiting outside once you've all made your final preparations," said Cobalion, leaving the lab with the others. While Yang called Qrow and the Rangers and Weiss was calling her company to investigate the invitation fiasco, Ruby and Blake pulled Mewtwo aside to find out what Mewtwo said to convince the Swords to team up.

"Great job convincing them to help us, Mewtwo!" said Ruby. "How did you do it?"

"I simply told them that we were going to find the orbs regardless of their cooperation," said Mewtwo. "If they wanted to fight us over it, I said I would fight them myself."

"You had to leave just to tell them that?" asked Blake.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "I feel like there was more to it than that. What did you REALLY tell them?"

Mewtwo suddenly looked away and gripped their fist.

"I'd rather not say," said Mewtwo, sounding a bit shaken in his response. Seeing Mewtwo respond like that worried Ruby and Blake.

 _"Rather not say?"_ thought Ruby. _"Mewtwo...what did you do?"_

Ruby wondered if Mewtwo would respond to Ruby's thoughts, but chose not to, returning to Ruby's Master Ball in silence. Whatever Mewtwo said or did, it would have to wait; right now, Ruby's focus was on finding the orbs before the Cult of Salem did.


	4. Search For the Orbs

**A/N: After taking a hiatus longer than the actual show's hiatus, this story is alive again. Explanation for said hiatus after the chapter.**

* * *

While Ruby's team went off to search for the Lustrous Orb, the others headed to the Wind Path to figure out where the Adamant Orb was. Since it was likely that the Adamant Orb was already in the hands of the Cult of Salem, there was one person that was likely to have more information as to whether they did or not.

With the Wind Path full of criminals, ranging from petty pickpockets to crime lords, Virizion and Terrakion would wait outside the village to not attract major attention as Yang and Weiss went to investigate.

"You get the feeling we're not welcome here?" asked Yang sarcastically, looking around at all the villagers giving them sideways glances and suspicious looks.

"Why would you think that?" replied Weiss. "Just because we're top tier trainers in a city full of criminals?"

Weiss noticed a lowlife standing on a corner trying to shoot her an intimidating look. Weiss gave one right back and motioned towards one of her Poké Balls; the lowlife suddenly turned around and pretended he didn't see Weiss.

"But seriously, the quicker we get out of this dump, the better."

"This should be the place," said Yang, pointing to a pub that had a sign of a Spinarak placed on top of it. This was known as "The Spinarak Nest," owned by the person of interest they needed to see.

They went to the back of the pub where a middle-aged lady backed up by two bodyguards was sitting at her private table. The woman was fanning herself with a big paper fan; she also had a Sensu Oricorio standing on her shoulder, fanning herself as well. She was called "Lil' Miss" Malachite, infamously known for having information on nearly every criminal in the world. As soon as Weiss and Yang got close to her table, the Oricorio stopped fanning herself and got into a battle position. Malachite was displeased by the two strangers' impolite greeting.

"Can I help y'all ladies with something?" asked Malachite.

"We've got questions that need answering," said Yang.

"Don't we all, child?"

"Cut the dandy act, Malachite. You know what I am."

"An ill-mannered buffoon?"

"We know all about you, Little Miss Malachite. You've got connections to nearly every major crime outfit in the world. That's the only reason us Rangers haven't decided to bust your operations."

"I'd watch that tongue of yours, Ranger. That's the kind of talk that starts a ruckus."

"And you think I'm scared of causing one? Let me remind you that I'm also an Elite Four trainer."

"And let me remind y'all of the kind of influence I wield," replied Malachite, folding her fan up as a signal to her bodyguards to get ready. Not wanting to waste time fighting people she didn't need to, Weiss pulled Yang away from the table.

"I apologize," said Weiss. "My partner isn't good at conversations. Let's talk like proper ladies."

"What do you need to know, child?" asked Malachite.

"Some time ago there was an auction for an orb found at the bottom of the ocean. Ring any bells?"

"Ah, yes! I've heard about that. The orb was more valuable than those treasure divers realized. The black market was all a flutter when they found out just what that orb was."

"We need to know who has that orb now."

"And what makes y'all think I would know that?"

"A criminal with connections like yours has to know someone who knows someone who knows someone who etcetera."

"Sorry honey, but my connections don't run that deep."

"Is that so?" said Weiss.

Weiss placed a hand inside her inner jacket pocket, causing the two bodyguards behind Malachite to grab their Poké Balls and expecting to fight. Weiss pulled out a large stack of Lien cards and placed it firmly on the middle of the table.

"One million Lien. All yours if you spill the beans."

"When did you have that kind of money?" asked Yang.

"I'm a Schnee, remember? I've got quite an inheritance saved up."

Malachite chuckled and brought her fan back out, signaling her bodyguards to put away their Pokémon.

"I like this one," said Malachite. "Tell me little miss, ever thought about joining the criminal underworld?"

"No thanks," said Weiss. "My company is already corrupt as it is. Now, back to the subject at hand?"

"Of course."

Malachite snapped her fingers. One of the bodyguards behind her pulled out a book and handed it to Malachite. Malachite flipped through the pages until she reached her notes on black market activities.

"According to my sources, the gem appears to have fallen into the hands of a man named Hazel Rainart."

"And do you know where we can find him?"

"Might I inquire as to why you need his presence?"

"He's part of the Cult of Salem. Surely you've heard of them."

"Of course, I have. That cult's pretty infamous around these parts."

"But even someone like you wouldn't want Salem to come back, do you?"

"Bold of y'all to assume that," said Malachite. "How do y'all know I'm not a part of that cult either?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" yelled Yang. "Are you with them?"

Hearing Yang yell caused a lot of heads to turn towards Yang, who had her hand hovering over her Poké Ball containing Celica. Malachite and her Oricorio simply laughed at Yang's overreaction.

"Relax, my hot-headed child," said Malachite. "I'm the kind of lady that gives orders, not follows them."

"What's your point?" asked Weiss.

"My point is that y'all never know who just might be part of that lil' old cult. Y'all think the cult is just three random criminals who met one day and said, 'Let's bring back that witch from that lil' old fairy tale?' There's lots of people in this world who believe in their message. Or perhaps...they don't have a choice in the matter."

"Don't have a choice?" asked Yang.

"Y'all know how I was able to obtain so many inside sources? By taking advantage of people down on their luck or knowing all their lil' secrets they don't want to get out. The Cult of Salem operates in the same way, only they go a lil' bit higher up the food chain as they say."

"Enough stalling!" said Weiss, getting agitated at Malachite avoiding her questions. "Do you know Hazel's whereabouts or not?"

Malachite chuckled again and kept fanning herself like her Oricorio. While Weiss waited for Malachite to give a response, Yang noticed that the noise level in the bar had suddenly dropped significantly.

"Is it me or did things just get quieter all of a sudden?" asked Yang.

"Y'all like a couple of flies flying right into a Spinarak web," replied Malachite.

Weiss and Yang noticed the bodyguards looking at someone or something past them. The two trainers turned around and were suddenly greeted by Hazel standing before them, arms crossed and appearing as if he was waiting for them to finish. Knowing something was about to go down, all the patrons quickly left the establishment to not get caught up in the eventual crossfire.

"They came just as you expected, Mister Rainart."

"So, you're the trainers getting in our way," said Hazel. "To think that Tyrian struggled with the likes of you."

Rather than be intimidated by Hazel's presence, Weiss simply chuckled to herself.

"What's so funny?"

"Something that Little Miss Malachite over there said," said Weiss. "Flies into a web. I've got an idiom myself: You catch more Bug types with Honey than with vinegar."

"Yeah!" said Yang. "You...um...what does that mean, exactly?"

"It means we expected this to happen?"

"Oh, right! We've got you right where we want you, Hazel!"

"Do either of you have any idea who you're up against?" asked Hazel.

"I know exactly who I'm up against," said Weiss. "Many would be scared to face a trainer who brutalizes Pokémon like an uncultured swine; but to me, you're just another amateur for me to defeat! Now unless you want to tell us what we want to know..."

Seeing Hazel reach for his Pokémon, Weiss and Yang knew it was pointless to ask and skipped right to calling out their Pokémon. Yang used her signature Pokémon Celica as usual, while Weiss called out her icy apparition, Froslass. Hazel called out two of his strongest combatants, the concrete wielding Conkeldurr and his short fused Pangoro. Weiss wasted no time calling out the first attack.

"Froslass, Icy Wind!" Froslass floated up and blasted Hazel's Pokémon with a cold breeze to reduce their speed.

"Conkeldurr, Earthquake attack!" commanded Hazel. Conkeldurr raised one of his concrete pillars up and slammed it to the ground to create a violent Earthquake. Although Froslass and Celica were hardly affected by the ground shaking, parts of the ceiling were coming down on them instead. While the trainers didn't care if this place collapsed, the owner was not pleased.

"Hey now!" yelled Malachite. "Y'all take this battle outside or so Arceus help me!"

"You heard the lady!" said Yang. "Celica, Dragon Rush them!"

Celica tackled into Conkeldurr through the front door, taking out part of the entranceway with them. Before they all went outside, Weiss took out another lien card and tossed it to Malachite.

"For the damages," said Weiss before returning her attention to the battle.

With the fight spilling out into the street, the pedestrians quickly ran off to not get involved. As Celica was keeping Conkeldurr down, Pangoro wound up his fist and slugged Celica in the head with a Hammer Arm, causing Celica to let go.

"Conkeldurr, Stone Edge!" commanded Hazel. Conkeldurr slammed his pillar to the ground and caused a sharp stone to rise and strike Celica, dealing a critical blow to Celica.

"Froslass, unleash your Blizzard!" said Weiss. Froslass floated up and fired her giant freezing blast, causing Hazel's Pokémon to hold up their arms to try and block some of the cold.

"Celica, let's join in with a Twister!" said Yang. Celica flew up with Froslass and rapidly flapped her wings to create a powerful wind storm; with the combined strength of the Blizzard and Twister, Hazel's Pokémon were nearly swept off their feet.

"Pangoro, Sky Uppercut that ghost!" said Hazel. Weiss was confused as to why Hazel made such a command, as Fighting moves were useless against Ghost types. Pangoro fought through the wind and the ice to reach Froslass, then jumped up and suddenly knocked Froslass out of the sky with an uppercut to the face, causing the Blizzard to stop as Froslass fell to the ground. Weiss was quick to pick up Pangoro's specialty.

"The Scrappy ability," said Weiss. "So, you aren't just all muscle and no brain."

"As I've told you," said Hazel, "you don't know the kind of trainer I am."

"We know plenty!" replied Yang. "You might have somewhat of a brain, but what you lack is a heart! That's why you've been blackballed from ever competing!"

"Such typical ignorance is why Salem cannot arrive fast enough!"

Once the weather attacks died down, Celica charged at Conkeldurr with her Dragon Rush; Conkeldurr dropped his pillars and grabbed Celica just as she tackled into him, then lifted her over his head with ease and slammed her body into the ground with Superpower, nearly driving her head through the dirt road. Froslass used her Icy Wind to try and slow Pangoro and Conkeldurr down; Pangoro balled his fists together and bonked Froslass over the head with his Hammer Arm, dealing some serious damage to Froslass. Whatever Yang and Weiss thought of Hazel, he had some strong Pokémon on his side.

"He's tougher than I want to admit," said Yang. "Any ideas?"

"If we can't outmatch him in power," said Weiss, "we'll just have to freeze them!"

"Conkeldurr, break her Dragonite!" commanded Hazel. Conkeldurr grabbed Celica and lifted her up high, ready to finish off Celica with another Superpower.

"Celica, Ice Beam attack!" commanded Yang.

Celica opened her mouth and fired her Ice Beam directly on top of Conkeldurr. Conkeldurr's body was soon covered in ice, causing him to lose his grip on Celica as he stood there like a frozen statue. Just as Celica was in the clear, Pangoro jumped on top of her and Crunched down on her neck. Although Celica was trapped underneath Pangoro, it left Pangoro open for Weiss to take advantage.

"Froslass, Blizzard attack!" commanded Weiss. Froslass created another hailstorm of bitter cold directed towards Pangoro, causing Pangoro's body to freeze up as well. With both of Hazel's Pokémon now covered in ice, Yang and Weiss now had a major advantage over Hazel.

"It's over, Hazel!" said Weiss. "With both of your Pokémon frozen, there's no way they'll break out in time before they get knocked out!"

"Now tell us where the Adamant Orb is!" said Yang.

"I'll concede this battle," said Hazel, recalling his Pokémon. "But this war is not over!"

Hazel was about to turn around and run, only to suddenly be greeted by two of the Swords of Justice blocking his escape.

"And where do you think you're going, tough guy?" asked Terrakion.

"What is it humans and running away from a losing fight?" asked Virizion.

"You've got nowhere to run, Hazel!" said Yang. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way!"

"So be it!" said Hazel, reaching for something in his inner pocket.

Everyone assumed he was going to pull out something dangerous until he suddenly pulled out the Adamant Orb.

"Before I surrender the orb, I want to ask you all a question. Why do any of you fight?"

"To protect Pokémon from humans like you!" replied Terrakion.

"Such a ridiculous question," said Virizion.

"I fight because I'm the best," said Weiss.

"All of the above!" said Yang. "What's your point?"

"My point is that you are all hypocrites," said Hazel. "I too enjoy the thrill of fighting, yet trainers like you and the Pokémon League decided to ban me from ever competing, deeming my actions to be extreme. Who are any of you to say what constitutes my style of fighting to be extreme?"

"Because you nearly kill other Pokémon," said Yang. "Both in trainer battles and in the wild. We have rules in place to prevent such serious injuries, including death."

"And you call that real fighting? Every fight is a fight to the death! That is the way nature intended things to be! Pokémon should fight the way they want to, not by how authorities demand they should! That's why I joined in the efforts to bring back Salem. She will bring this world back to the way it should: A world where the Pokémon will determine the way they fight! They will decide what counts as 'extreme' or not!"

"Even we have standards, you filthy human," replied Virizion. "No Pokémon would ever fight in such a barbaric nature."

"I've heard enough!" said Terrakion. "Is he giving up the orb or not?"

"Take it then," said Hazel, dropping the Adamant Orb to his feet.

Yang slowly approached Hazel, keeping an eye on him always. As Yang was within reach to grab the orb, Hazel suddenly pulled out a yellow Dust crystal from his pocket. Before Hazel can make another move, the two Swords immediately created their Sacred Swords and held them near Hazel.

"Don't move another muscle, human!" said Terrakion.

"Figures you'd try something!" said Yang, grabbing the orb and placing it in her jacket. "Thought you can make some kind of quick escape?"

"I don't think so," said Hazel. "I know so!"

Before anyone knew it, Hazel took the Dust crystal and suddenly stabbed himself in the arm with it. Hazel moaned in pain as electricity suddenly surged in his body. Thrown off by Hazel's weird actions, Hazel suddenly pushed Yang out of the way and charged through the swords, quickly running down the street and scaring off anybody who dared to get in his way.

"Well...that was a first," said Yang. "I thought injecting Dust into yourself like that was lethal!"

"Not instantly," said Weiss, "but it does take years off your life. Do it enough times and eventually it will."

"We need to go after him!" said Terrakion.

"Forget it," said Yang. "Between the crowded streets and him doing...that, it's too dangerous to give chase."

"The human has a point," said Virizion. "Besides, we now have the Adamant Orb. That's what ultimately matters."

"Agreed," said Weiss. "Let's leave before we attract more unwanted attention."

The team quickly left the Wind Path, successfully securing the Adamant Orb.

#

Ruby and Blake along with Keldeo and Cobalion were heading to Kuroyuri Peak, a volcanic mountain located outside the long-abandoned village of Kuroyuri where the last of the orbs were hidden. Along the way there, Keldeo wanted to learn more about Ruby and what it was like to be a Pokémon trainer.

"So, by becoming the champion," said Keldeo, "you're now considered the best trainer in all of Vale?"

"That's right," said Ruby. "But there could always be a stronger trainer waiting to challenge me for that title."

"You think if I had a trainer, I'd be a champion Pokémon?"

"Depends how strong you bond with your trainer. Even if you had the world's strongest Pokémon, you could never win if you don't treat them with love and respect, right Sylveon?"

"Sylveon!" cheered Sylveon.

While Ruby and Keldeo were enjoying their conversation, Blake noticed Cobalion groaning and looking displeased with Keldeo chatting with Ruby.

"You look like you're about to blow a gasket," said Blake. "Let me guess; can't stand Keldeo being friendly with Ruby?"

"I wish they would stop asking such nonsense about trainers," said Cobalion. "Keldeo should know better than any of us why we cannot trust humans."

"What makes you say that?"

"The Swords and I had found Keldeo in a village destroyed during a war between the humans. Although Keldeo is a youngling compared to us, we believed Keldeo had great potential to become as strong as us, so we took them in and trained them the way our master trained us, away from the humans. Yet despite seeing for themselves the damage humans have caused, Keldeo holds this belief that humans are inherently good, and that no human is ever truly evil."

"Sounds like Ruby's belief about Mewtwo," said Blake. "She was convinced Mewtwo wasn't the pure evil being we all thought they were. No matter the circumstances, Ruby thinks there isn't such a thing as an evil Pokémon."

"But in Ruby's case, she is right. Keldeo is simply being ignorant."

"You really believe all humans are inherently evil?"

"Of course. It is humans who cause the most suffering in the world. After all, who is currently trying to summon Salem and Giratina to destroy this planet?"

"And who are the ones trying to stop that from happening?" replied Blake.

Before Blake and Cobalion could continue their spirited debate, the party arrived at the entrance of the abandoned village, with the peak standing tall close in the distance.

"Looks like we're here," said Ruby as a thunderous roar was heard coming from the mountain. "Sounds like it, too."

"Inside is where you buried the orb, correct?" asked Blake.

"It's been a few centuries," said Keldeo, "but we're pretty sure the orb is still where we chucked it."

"We didn't think the humans were capable of reaching such depths in the heart of Remnant," said Cobalion. "But if the other orbs were found, they probably would have found a way to reach this one."

The trainers and Swords of Justice entered the mountain, immediately feeling the intense humidity engulfed within the caves of the mountain. The Swords lead Ruby and Blake to the bottom most floor of the mountain, entering a tunnel leading to a pit of magma. Simply being within the same floor as the magma was enough for Ruby to feel like she was melting.

"Down somewhere in that pit of magma lies the Lustrous Orb. Even a Fire type Pokémon would have trouble getting the orb under such scorching heat."

"But I bet I know someone who wouldn't!" said Ruby, grabbing her Master Ball and calling out Mewtwo.

"How can I help you, Ruby?" asked Mewtwo.

"The Swords say this is where the orb is buried. Do you think you could you handle some scorching magma?"

"Hold on," said Blake. "We're not exactly sure if the orb is still down there to begin with."

"Are you doubting our word, human?" asked Cobalion.

"I'm saying the orb may have relocated entirely over the last few hundred years."

"Allow me," said Mewtwo. Mewtwo concentrated their psychic powers to sense any kind of presence within the magma. "I can sense a faint pulse of energy emanating deep within the magma. That could be the Lustrous Orb."

"At least we know it's here," said Ruby. "Think you'll be able to reach it?"

"I could form a protective barrier to make sure I don't get burned, but even then, I estimate I'd only have about five minutes at best surviving these kinds of temperatures."

A small explosion went off in the pit of magma, causing the mountain to slightly shake as a loud roar echoed across the chamber, nearly knocking Ruby off her feet.

"It feels like this place is about to blow!" said Keldeo.

"Kuroyuri hasn't had a full-on eruption in decades," said Blake. "With that said, this is not the best place for any of us to stay long."

"I suggest all of you leave while I search for the orb," said Mewtwo.

"Be careful, Mewtwo," said Ruby. "Don't hesitate to leave if you can't handle it."

Mewtwo nodded as they formed a barrier to protect their body while everyone else made their exit, save for Cobalion.

"C'mon Cobalion, we have to go!" said Keldeo.

"You go on ahead," said Cobalion. "I will stay here to...assist Mewtwo."

Keldeo wanted to protest, but the humidity was really getting to them and they didn't want to waste time arguing with Cobalion, especially knowing how Cobalion would just ignore anything Keldeo had to say. Cobalion remained where they were as they watched Mewtwo dip themselves into the magma, using their psychic powers to scan for the orb. Keldeo turned back and caught up with the others on the upper floor of the peak. Blake had called out her Greninja to cool off everyone before they passed out from the heat.

"Man," said Ruby, "I hope Mewtwo finds the orb. The sooner we get out of here the better!"

"Sylveon," muttered Sylveon, sweating profusely and hoping to leave as well.

"Speaking of," said Blake, "where's Cobalion?"

"They stayed behind to help Mewtwo," said Keldeo.

"Help Mewtwo? Or make sure Mewtwo doesn't backstab you?"

"No offense Keldeo," said Ruby, "but Cobalion seems more likely to backstab us than Mewtwo."

Keldeo bucked his hindlegs into a nearby rock, shattering it to pieces. It seemed Ruby's remark ended up upsetting Keldeo regardless.

"Whoa! I'm sorry to upset you, but-"

"No, you're right!" angrily replied Keldeo. "As much as I look up to Cobalion, I'm sick of them acting like this! They never trust humans! They think every human is either evil or will eventually turn evil! No matter how I try to show them that there are good humans in the world, they never want to listen!"

"I'm surprised you feel that way, Keldeo," said Blake. "Cobalion told me they found you in a village decimated by the humans during a war."

"It's true. I lived in a village that treated me like I was the town's mascot. Everyone in that village loved me and took good care of me. That was until a war between humans broke out and the village was torn apart."

"Yet you don't hold a grudge against the humans for it. Why?"

"Because for every bad human I saw trying to kill...I saw a good human trying to save someone."

Keldeo could remember that day in the village like it was yesterday. How a band of warmongers swept through the village, burning and pillaging everything they could; the images of seeing the people that protected him being murdered by the heartless monsters, and the ones who stayed behind to protect the others and fend off the ruthless invaders.

"I saw many evil humans that day, but there were several good humans doing the right thing as well. Yet no matter how many times I try to explain this to Cobalion, Cobalion thinks evil humans will overpower and outlast the good ones. Mewtwo tried explaining about how good humans can be too, and of course they just dismissed Mewtwo's claims as well."

"That's another thing we've been meaning to ask," said Ruby. "How did Mewtwo convince Cobalion and the others to help, especially if Cobalion hates humans so much?"

"Well...," said Keldeo, his voice trailing off as if suddenly not wanting to talk about. "There was that...other thing they said."

"Other thing?" asked Blake.

"Pardon the interruption, my fair trainers!"

The three of them were suddenly interrupted by the presence of another trainer. Despite the intense temperature of the cave, he was wearing a full jacket over his suit and tie.

"Huh?" said Ruby. "Who are you?"

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am-"

"Arthur Watts," replied Blake. "The leader of the Cult of Salem."

"So, you're the one trying to bring back that monster!" said Keldeo, jumping in front of the group and forming their Sacred Sword.

"And you must be the trainers getting in the way of progress," replied Watts.

"Progress?" said Ruby. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Progress: To develop and advance to a higher stage of quality."

"I know what that word means! What does it have to do with summoning Salem?"

"It's simple: In order for this world to progress, the summoning of Salem and Giratina is required."

"If you summon Salem and Giratina," said Keldeo, "you'll end up destroying the world! You call that progress?"

"Of course. For far too long, this planet has become overpopulated with too many inferior humans and Pokémon. How can we possibly reach a higher standard of living if this planet is bogged down by too many inferior organisms getting in the way? I believe the answer to that question is to bring forth Salem to wipe out those unfit to reach the next stage of evolution. The weak will perish and only the smartest and strongest will survive."

"And who are you to think you can decide who is strong or smart enough?" yelled Ruby.

"Because I am a man of science! The world needs an intellectual such as me to save it."

The more Watts talked so calmly about his diatribe, the more livid Ruby and Keldeo were becoming. Blake on the other hand remained stoic and signaled for the others to keep their emotions in check.

"Calm down, you two," said Blake. "There's no reason to take any words this madman has to say seriously."

"Madman?" said Watts. "As an intellectual, I haven't lost my temper in ages."

"You're not an intellectual, Doctor Watts. You're just some lunatic with a God complex. All you've ever done was butcher Pokémon in your sick twisted experiments in the name of your so-called 'progress.'"

"Simpletons like you are all the same. I sacrifice a few Pokémon here and there, and suddenly I get labeled as inhumane, a sicko, deranged, etcetera. Inferiors like you are exactly why neither humans nor Pokémon can evolve as a species, because you let petty things like a 'conscience' get in the way."

"I'm getting sick just listening to this guy!" said Ruby. "Let's nab this mad scientist already!"

"I've heard enough as well," said Blake.

As Sylveon, Greninja, and Keldeo got ready to battle, Watts reached into his jacket pocket and called out three of his Pokémon: Reuniclus, Rotom, and Porygon-Z. Greninja immediately charged after Reuniclus and striking with a Night Slash. Despite its weakness, the Reuniclus absorbed the attack with its gelatin body like it was nothing.

"Rotom, Thunder Wave that frog!" commanded Watts. Rotom quickly floated over Greninja and shocked Greninja, paralyzing parts of his body.

"Sylveon, Swift attack!" said Ruby. Sylveon created a torrent of pink energy stars and struck all of Watts' Pokémon at once.

"Porygon, Discharge!" Porygon-Z charged itself up and unleashed a burst of electricity to shock everyone.

"My Sacred Sword will stop you!" replied Keldeo, forming their energy sword and striking Porygon-Z, dealing some good damage.

"Dizzy Punch, Reuniclus!" Reuniclus used its gelatin arm to form a giant arm and punch Keldeo hard in the face, knocking Keldeo back several feet.

"Greninja, Water Shuriken!" commanded Blake. Greninja formed several water ninja stars and launched them at Reuniclus.

"Reuniclus, Endeavor!" Reuniclus simply stood still as Greninja struck Reuniclus several times, allowing itself to become weakened.

"This time I will take you down!" said Keldeo, reforming his Sacred Sword and leaping towards Porygon-Z.

"Porygon, Conversion 2!" Porygon-Z suddenly flashed several colors as Keldeo went to slash Porygon-Z; somehow, Keldeo's sword phased right through Porygon-Z as if it was completely immune, throwing Keldeo completely off.

"What the? How did-"

"Rotom, Shock Wave!" With Keldeo caught off guard, Rotom quickly shot a strong jolt of electricity at Keldeo, dealing some serious damage to Keldeo and knocking them flat on their stomach.

"Sylveon, Moonblast Rotom!" said Ruby. Sylveon fired a powerful blast of energy at Rotom to knock them away. Ruby ran up to Keldeo to see if they were all right. "Are you okay, Keldeo?"

"I'm fine!" said Keldeo, trying to stand up straight but was in too much pain to do so.

"You haven't fully recovered from your surgery. Just stay back and let us handle this!"

"Porygon, Discharge again!" commanded Watts. Porygon-Z charged itself up, ready to fire another burst of electricity at everyone close by.

"Sylveon, Light Screen!" Sylveon quickly created a barrier to protect the team from Porygon's attack.

"Greninja, Night Slash the Reuniclus!" commanded Blake. Greninja leapt towards Reuniclus to slash them, but the paralysis caused him to move too slow, allowing Reuniclus to capture Greninja with their giant arm.

"Reuniclus, Pain Split!"

Reuniclus enclosed Greninja within its gelatin body and used its psychic powers to cause Greninja and Reuniclus' health to be matched, resulting in Reuniclus gaining health and Greninja losing it. Once Greninja was released from Reuniclus' prison, Rotom quickly fired a Shock Wave at Greninja, damaging them even worse. Now both Keldeo and Greninja looked to be on the verge of fainting.

"This isn't good," said Ruby. "We need a new strategy!"

"But what can we do?" asked Keldeo. "Somehow that thing was completely immune to my Sacred Sword after it converted!"

"Completely immune?" said Blake. "Hmm..."

"Do you three now understand just how inferior you are?" said Watts. "That is why a man of my genius is needed to help cleanse this world."

"You haven't defeated us yet, doctor. I would think a man of your so-called 'genius' wouldn't be so full of hubris."

"You're one to talk, considering your Pokémon is about to faint. Rotom, finish her off!"

Rotom flew towards Greninja and fired a Shock Wave to knock out Greninja; Greninja suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke and was replaced by a Pokémon doll that took the attack and got torn to shreds. With Sylveon the only healthy fighter left, she fired her Swift stars to try and attack all of Watts' Pokémon at once. Reuniclus countered with a Dizzy Punch straight to Sylveon's face, followed by Porygon-Z firing a Signal Beam at Sylveon. The combination of the attacks caused Sylveon to get dizzy, spinning around in a state of confusion.

"Sylveon, snap out of it!" yelled Ruby, but Sylveon could barely tell where she even was anymore. Seeing Sylveon in danger, Keldeo forced themselves to stand up and try to attack Watts' Pokémon with an Aqua Tail but was too slow to attack and was easily dodged by Watts' Pokémon.

"For a Sword of Justice," said Watts, "you're pathetically weak."

"Only because of that psycho's poison!" yelled Ruby.

"Poison or not," said Keldeo, "I'll fight to the very end to stop you and that cult!"

"Interesting choice of words," said Watts, "because your end is about to come. Porygon, put this thing out of its misery!"

Porygon-Z was ready to unleash another Discharge that was sure to knock out Keldeo when from above, Blake's Greninja came zooming down and sliced Porygon-Z from behind with a critical Night Slash, causing Porygon-Z to cease charging and collapse out cold.

"Whoa!" said Keldeo. "How did you do that?"

"Simple," said Blake. "Porygon is known to be able to change its typing in battle. If it was able to change itself to be immune to your Sacred Sword, I assumed it must have turned into a Ghost type, making it vulnerable to my Dark type attack."

"Impressive," said Watts. "I have to say, you would make a great candidate for serving under Salem. The world could use a trainer of your genius."

"I'll happily decline."

"Suit yourself. Rotom, cast a Hex on her frog!"

Rotom laughed sinisterly as it mentally created a curse on Greninja's body. Still suffering from his paralysis, Greninja took enough damage to get knocked out, leaving two Pokémon on each side of the battle. Although the numbers were even, Keldeo was still severely weakened and Ruby was trying to get Sylveon to snap out of her confusion.

"What will you do now, Sword of Justice? Still think you can fight back?"

Keldeo moaned and wanted to strike Watts' Pokémon, but they couldn't deny they really were too weak to keep going. Sylveon was their best bet of winning this battle and came up with an idea.

"Maybe you're right," said Keldeo. "Maybe I can't fight back. So, I'll trust someone who can!"

Keldeo suddenly turned around and ran towards Sylveon. As Sylveon was spinning in place, Keldeo got close and lightly struck Sylveon with a Double Kick, knocking Sylveon to the ground. Sylveon stood up and shook her head, resulting in no longer being confused.

"Thanks, Keldeo!" said Ruby. "All right Sylveon, hit them with your Last Resort!"

Now that Sylveon was able to concentrate, she quickly powered herself up and tackled into Rotom, sending them flying into a wall and knocking them out. Now Watts was down to just one Pokémon left.

"Seems I've underestimated all of you quite a bit," said Watts, unmoved by two of his Pokémon falling in battle.

"I didn't become the champion of Vale for nothing!" said Ruby. "You ready to give up now?"

"Now why would a man of my genius give up simply because-"

"Master Ruby!" shouted a voice from behind. "We've found the orb!"

Everyone turned to see Mewtwo and Cobalion suddenly approach Ruby and the others. Sure enough, Mewtwo was holding up the Lustrous Orb in their hands.

 _"They found the third orb after all,"_ thought Watts. _"That means my plan can now fall into place."_

"Good job, Mewtwo!" said Ruby. "You didn't suffer any serious burns, did you?"

"Luckily I was able to find the orb just before the magma took serious effect on me," said Mewtwo. "Nothing a quick Recover can heal up."

"All right!" said Keldeo. "That means we have two of the orbs!"

"And if Weiss and Yang were successful," said Ruby, "that means we'll have all of the orbs!"

"I'd hate to interrupt," said Blake, "but we've still got a problem on our hands!"

"Oh, right! Doctor Watts!"

Ruby turned back to fight Watts, only to find that he and his Pokémon had suddenly disappeared.

"What the...where did he go?"

"Maybe he ran away because he knew he couldn't beat us!" said Keldeo.

"You were in a battle, Ruby?" asked Mewtwo.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "We confronted the leader behind this cult. To be honest, I probably could have used your help!"

"I'm sorry I couldn't have been of more help," said Keldeo.

"Don't be! You fought great, Keldeo! We'd probably be in a worse spot if not for you!"

"Sylveon!" cheered Sylveon, thanking Keldeo for their help.

"As unhappy as I am the human escaped," said Cobalion, "we've at least secured the orb. Let us return to the academy at once!"

With the Lustrous Orb now obtained, most of the party felt good about accomplishing their mission. On their way out of the peak however, Ruby noticed Blake seemingly deep in thought about something.

"Something wrong, Blake?" asked Ruby.

"The way Watts just surrendered and left," said Blake. "If he were truly bent on bringing back Salem, why did he suddenly retreat as soon as we had the orb?"

"Maybe he figured between Mewtwo and Cobalion, he couldn't win?"

"Maybe, but...I just have this feeling he might have planned this."

"You mean he wanted us to have the orb? Why?"

"I'm not sure. Let's get back to Haven Academy so I can think this through."

#

All the trainers returned to Haven Academy with the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs. They all met in the lab with Church and Lionheart where the three orbs were now safely secured.

"Way to go, everyone!" said Church. "We have all the orbs!"

"I wouldn't be celebrating yet, human," said Cobalion. "There's still the matter of bringing those three cultists to justice."

"You say that like it's going to be a problem!" said Terrakion. "Those humans aren't so tough!"

"There's more to it than that," said Blake. "I have a feeling they wanted us to have all the orbs."

"I agree with her," said Mewtwo. "It would explain why Watts surrendered so easily if Ruby had a hard time fighting them."

"Hazel was kind of the same way," said Yang. "After we kicked his butt, he just gave up the orb and hightailed it."

"That doesn't make sense," said Church. "Why would the people trying to get the orbs so badly simply hand them over?"

"Think about it," said Weiss. "Had either one of them been able to keep at least one orb, they'd still be separated. But now, all three orbs have conveniently gathered in one spot."

"A surprisingly clever tactic," said Virizion. "Give up the orbs now to obtain them all at once."

"What?" said Leo, suddenly sounding scared. "Does this mean they're going to attack our academy?"

"Sounds like their plan," said Blake.

"Then what do you think we should do?" asked Ruby.

"What else?" said Keldeo. "We stop them before they can reach us!"

"I'm down with that!" said Yang. "We'll hunt them down and bring them to justice!"

"Sounds like a plan I can get behind!" said Terrakion.

"Wait!" said Leo. "If all of you leave to chase them down, who will be here to protect us?"

"I'll call Uncle Qrow and have the Rangers on guard duty," said Yang.

"And I'll remain here at all times!" said Church. "I'll be watching these orbs 24/7 and then some!"

"All right then!" said Ruby. "Let's rest up and then head out there to stop this cult for good!"

As all the Pokémon went to the academy's Pokémon Center to get treated, Weiss had gotten a message on her scroll. Ruby noticed Weiss leaving the Pokémon Center before anyone noticed her. Ruby followed Weiss outside as Weiss was furiously swiping through her scroll.

"What are you doing, Weiss?" asked Ruby.

"I finally got the list of everyone we gave passes to for the museum event," said Weiss.

"Any names sticking out for you?"

"Not quite. I do see some familiar names, but..."

"What's wrong?"

"It was something Miss Malachite said when we interrogated her. She mentioned how anyone could be part of that cult for reasons we don't even know."

"So, you're saying everyone on that list is a suspect?"

"Afraid so. I didn't want to say anything in case those Swords overheard me."

"I don't blame you. Imagine Cobalion's reaction knowing there's a fourth person involved in all this."

"Well until I have a better idea of who it could be, let's concentrate on finding the other three."

#

Shortly after making his escape from Kuroyuri Peak, Watts had contacted Tyrian and Hazel to meet up at the base of Kuchinashi Mountain to discuss the next phase of their plan.

"Why are we meeting here?" asked Hazel.

"All part of the plan," said Watts. "I take it you've lost the Adamant Orb?"

"I have. Did they find the other orb?"

"Indeed, which means they now have all three of the orbs."

"If they have all three of the orbs," said Tyrian, "that means we can never summon our queen now!"

"On the contrary! With all three orbs now together, we are one step closer to summoning Salem."

"Ooooh...I see where this is going! We let them have all the orbs, and then we take them all down in one fell swoop!"

"Then why are we gathered here if we don't have the orbs?" asked Hazel.

"Because as I've told you," said Watts, "it's all part of the plan. Rather than go after the orbs ourselves...the orbs are going to come to us!"

A message alert went off on Watts' scroll. Watts took out his scroll and smiled.

"What now?" asked Hazel.

"Our helpful informant says they're about to make their next move," said Watts. "If everything goes as planned, Salem will arrive before the day is over."

* * *

 **A/N: So, to make a long story short, I took a very long hiatus from writing my fanfics because 2019 was such a terrible year for RWBY and RT that the negativity got to me and I lost a ton of interest in wanting to write.**

 **But now that I'm getting myself back into RWBY, I will write more in 2020 and get this story done. Sorry for leaving you all hanging for way too long.**


	5. The Renegade Returns

With the Pokémon Rangers patrolling Haven Academy, Ruby and the others had spread out around the Mistral region to search for the Cult of Salem. Yang was flying around on Celica, roaming over the many towns of the region in case she found a place that could potentially serve as their hideout. Weiss went around Haven City investigating possible leads with the names on the invite list. Blake had gone to the Wind Path since she was the least likely of the group to be considered suspicious.

The Swords and Ruby were scouting the wild areas just outside of Haven Academy. Cobalion insisted on staying close by to the orbs in case the three criminals converged on the Academy as everyone assumed they had planned. Everyone was communicating on their scrolls to keep up to date on their status.

"Any updates, girls?" asked Church.

"Nothing on my end," said Yang.

"No luck here either," said Weiss.

"If they were hiding here," said Blake, "they appear to be long gone."

"How about you, Ruby?" asked Church.

"The Swords can't sense them coming," said Ruby. "Maybe they're waiting to attack us at night?"

"Doubt it. It's not like we're going to be any less guarded overnight."

"All right. If anyone finds something, let us know." Ruby continued to scout the perimeter of the Academy walls when she bumped into Cobalion and Keldeo. "Any signs of them?"

"None," replied Cobalion. "If they are to attack the academy, they are taking a very long time to do so."

"They're trying to catch us off guard!" said Keldeo. "But I'm not going to let that happen!"

"Are you sure you'll be able to fight, Keldeo?" asked Ruby. "You still look pretty banged up."

"I'll be fine, Ruby! Even if I wasn't, a Sword of Justice never stands down in the face of danger!"

"If you say so."

While the trainers, Rangers, and Swords kept on the lookout for the Cult of Salem, Church was always staying in the lab with the orbs. Even if she needed a bathroom break, she vowed to go nowhere to ensure the orbs were always safe. While Church sat in her chair and stared at the legendary orbs, Lionheart was pacing around the room nervously. Church leaned back and noticed how uneasy Lionheart was feeling.

"What's wrong, Leo?" asked Church. "You look worried."

"I'm scared of what will happen to this academy," said Lionheart, "and the entire city for that matter."

"I'm sure we'll be fine! Between the Swords, the Rangers, Ruby and the others, we've got round-the-clock protection! There's no way those three crooks are going to get past them! And if all else fails, I've got Pokémon of my own too!"

"I guess we are well protected..."

Church got up from her chair and patted Lionheart on the back.

"You're such a worry-wart, Leo!" said Church. "You need to learn to relax more often!"

"It's hard to relax knowing the kind of monster that's about to be unleashed on this world!"

"You say that as if Salem and Giratina are actually going to come back! How about instead of focusing on the worst-case scenario, you try focusing on the positives? We've got the orbs! We've got legendary Pokémon on our side! Everything is going to turn out fine!"

Church gave Lionheart another pat on the back before returning to her seat. Since there wasn't much to do in the lab, Church pulled out her scroll and went over all the research notes she had on the orbs and the Triad of Creation.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Church," said Lionheart.

"Just relax, okay?" said Church. "I doubt with all the protection we have that we'll-"

Church suddenly heard what appeared to be the sound of a Pokémon being called out. Church got up and saw a Tangrowth standing next to Lionheart.

"Leo? What are you-"

#

It had been roughly another half hour without any updates on where the trio of cultists were hiding. Ruby took out her scroll to contact everyone.

"Does anyone have an update worth sharing?" asked Ruby.

"They're definitely not hiding in the Wind Path," said Blake.

"No one in Haven seems to have a clue either," said Weiss.

"None of the other towns look suspicious either," said Yang.

"Where in the world could they be hiding?" said Ruby. "It's almost like they're not in Mistral anymore!"

"It appears trying to find them is doing us no good," said Cobalion. "It's time for a different plan of action."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I demand you hand over the orbs back to us."

"What?" said Keldeo. "But we agreed to help each other!"

"Only to find the orbs before they did and gather them in one place. We never agreed to let the humans keep all the orbs. If we cannot lure the cultists out, we can at least hide the orbs so that the humans cannot find them again."

"When you put it that way," said Ruby, "that's actually not a bad idea. What do you think, girls?"

"We might as well," said Blake. "If they do come out to attack Haven Academy, putting them in hiding again will at least protect the orbs from getting stolen."

"Do what you gotta do, Ruby," said Yang. "I'll keep on the lookout in the meantime."

"Same here," said Weiss.

"That settles it, then," said Ruby. "I'll call Church and let her know we'll be giving the orbs to you."

While Ruby was contacting Church to discuss the new plan, Keldeo was looking up at Cobalion as if expecting them to say something.

"Well?" said Keldeo.

"Well what?" asked Cobalion.

"In the end, we stopped Salem from coming back thanks to the help of Ruby and her friends. I think it shows that not all the humans are as bad as you think they are!"

"I will admit that this human and her friends have been proven...tolerable. But do not think this has changed my mind about their kind. I want you to forget about them as soon as this ordeal is over."

Keldeo was disappointed to see Cobalion still have the same opinion on humans they always did. As upset as Keldeo was that Cobalion wasn't going to change their attitude towards humans, at least this ordeal involving the orbs and Salem was soon going to be over.

"This is strange," said Ruby. "Church isn't answering her scroll."

"Not answering her scroll?" said Keldeo. "Is something wrong?"

"She's probably occupying herself with busywork. I'll just tell her when we get there."

Cobalion quickly called for all the Swords to regroup at Haven Academy. Ruby kept trying to contact Church on her scroll, but every time it went straight to her voicemail.

 _"Still not picking up,"_ thought Ruby. _"Maybe she's just recharging it?"_

Once all the Swords had gathered at Haven Academy, they headed down to the research lab. Ruby knocked on the giant metal doors to let Church know she was here.

"Miss Church! Are you busy?" Ruby was expecting an immediate response but got nothing. Not wanting to keep Cobalion and the others waiting, Ruby simply entered the lab and looked around to see what Church was up to.

That's when Ruby noticed Church lying unconscious in the corner of the room, as if somebody had knocked her out cold.

"Miss Church!" yelled Ruby, running over to the sleeping scientist. Cobalion looked around the room and realized the orbs were nowhere in sight.

"The orbs are gone!" yelled Cobalion.

"But how?" said Keldeo. "I thought this place was protected!"

"I knew the humans would let us down," said Virizion.

"C'mon Allison, wake up!" yelled Ruby, shaking Church violently.

"Ugh...Ruby?" muttered Church, feeling like she just woke up from a coma. "Please tell me I was just dreaming?"

"What happened here?" yelled Cobalion. "What did you do to the orbs?"

Upon realizing she wasn't dreaming, Church got up and saw the orbs had vanished.

"Oh no!" said Church. "I-I don't believe this! Leo...he really..."

"Mister Lionheart?" asked Ruby. "What did he do?"

"Leo...he's the one that took the orbs!"

"And I know where exactly he's taking them!" yelled Cobalion, storming out of the building. The other Swords quickly followed close behind.

"Wait up, everyone!" said Keldeo, chasing after the others.

"Keldeo, wait!" said Ruby, but all the Swords were already long gone before Ruby can catch up to them. Ruby would have tried to go after them if she didn't have a hysterical Church she needed to tend to.

 _"Ruby!"_ said Mewtwo, telepathically communicating to Ruby. _"Allow me to follow them! I may know where they're heading!"_

Without hesitating, Ruby called out Mewtwo, who wasted no time chasing after the Swords of Justice. Ruby took out her scroll and contacted the others.

"Girls, we have an emergency!" said Ruby. "Mister Lionheart took all the orbs!"

"The headmaster?" said Yang. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"How long ago was it?" asked Blake.

"I'm not sure!" said Church, still shaken to know how she was betrayed. "One second I'm telling Leo to stop worrying about the orbs, and the next thing I knew he called out a Pokémon to inflict Sleep Powder on me!"

"Hold on," said Weiss, pulling up the list of attendees to the museum event. Sure enough, Leo Lionheart's name was on it. "Miss Church, could you recall ever seeing Lionheart at the museum event?"

"Huh? Um...I don't think so, but I assumed he must have been there!"

"Unless he gave that invite to someone else!"

It didn't take long for everyone to put the two pieces of the puzzle together involving Tyrian's appearance that day.

"I...I can't believe this!" said Church, feeling her stomach twist into knots. "I've known Leo for so many years, and he...he was a part of the Cult of Salem this whole time?"

"We've all been blindsided!" said Ruby. "Now we have to figure out where he would have gone!"

"There's only one possible place!" said Blake. "Kuchinashi Mountain!"

"Which means they're going to summon..."

"Then we need to act fast!" said Yang. "If Giratina arrives, it'll be New Vale City all over again! I'll contact the Rangers and let them know what's up!"

"What about the Swords?" asked Blake. "Where are they right now?"

"They all headed out as soon as we found Church," said Ruby. "Mewtwo went with them as well."

"I know how powerful Mewtwo is, but I'm not sure if even they and the Swords can handle Giratina."

"Then we have to get there before it's too late!" said Weiss. "We'll regroup and all head there together!"

"Okay!" said Ruby. "I'll be waiting for you at Haven Academy!"

#

Watts, Hazel, and Tyrian awaited at the top of Kuchinashi Mountain, where a shrine long since dilapidated and corroded stood made by the people who believed it was the birthplace of Arceus. Watts was looking out at the scenery, where he can see the city of Haven several miles away in the distance, its inhabitants unaware of the threat soon to loom over them.

"Quite a view, isn't it?" said Watts. "You can probably see the entire region from here on a bright day."

"How much longer do we have to wait?" yelled Tyrian. "When are we going to summon our queen already?"

"As impatient as this idiot is, I agree," said Hazel.

"Our informant should be here any minute now," said Watts. "Unless he suddenly blew his cover."

Right on cue, Leo Lionheart climbed up from the cave below and made it to the peak of the mountain.

"Hello, Mister Lionheart. Do you have the orbs?"

"Yes," said Lionheart, laying down a briefcase and opening it up to reveal all three orbs of the Triad of Creation. Tyrian was in awe and feeling giddy knowing the queen was mere moments from arriving.

"The headmaster of Haven Academy," said Hazel. "I have to say I'm honestly surprised."

"See what happens when you choose brain over brawn?" remarked Watts. "Anyway, good job Lionheart. You've played your part well."

"I kept my end of the deal!" said Lionheart. "Now when Salem arrives, you'll promise that the academy and Haven City will be spared?"

"I can't say for certain," said Watts, about grab the briefcase. Lionheart quickly closed it and clutched it to his chest.

"But you promised! You said that Salem would spare-"

"I merely said we would ask Salem to spare that little city and school you love so much. Whatever she wishes to do however is ultimately up to her."

"That wasn't part of the deal! You said-"

"ENOUGH!" yelled Tyrian, standing directly behind Lionheart and getting into his face. "Give us the orbs so we can summon our queen!"

"Calm down, Tyrian," said Watts. "Mister Lionheart knows better than to try and pull a fast one." Watts walked up to Lionheart and smiled. "So, what will it be, Mister Lionheart? Play hero and meet your demise, or hand over the orbs and hopefully end up with a better fate?"

Knowing there wasn't really a better choice he can make, Lionheart handed over the briefcase to Watts. Watts took the briefcase to the center of the shrine and took out his scroll to go over the information he had on Arceus and the Triad.

"According to the ancient texts, if we place the orbs in a certain formation, it should create a rift strong enough to allow Salem and Giratina to pierce through."

Watts, Hazel, and Tyrian each took an orb and spread them out in a triangle formation. As soon as the orbs were in place, the orbs started glowing dimly as a small spacial rift barely the size of a marble was forming in the center of the triangle. While Watts was delighted to see the rift slowly forming, Hazel and Tyrian were unimpressed by the results.

"You call that a rift?" yelled Tyrian. "How can our queen possibly come through that?"

"It is indeed small," said Watts. "But if my hypothesis is true, Salem and Giratina should be able to see the rift through the other world and rip it apart. Think of it like finding a small hole in your clothes and using your might to rip it apart further."

"And what happens if you're wrong, Watts?" asked Hazel.

"Then we're going to have to find a way to speed up the process."

#

Many millennia ago, Arceus created three Pokémon to help shape the world of Remnant: Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. Dialga had the power of time, and Palkia had the power of space. No one knows what power Giratina had, but shortly after its creation it went berserk, causing Arceus to banish it in a dimension outside of Remnant; a dimension where time and space did not exist, and thus if any human were to step foot on that plain of existence, they would think they were living in a distorted world.

From this "Distortion World," Giratina was still able to watch and observe the world of Remnant. It watched as humans and Pokémon evolved over the millennia. While Remnant grew and changed over its existence, the world Giratina was banished to remained as empty and distorted as it ever was, and it was all alone in its suffering. Giratina grew more angry and depressed over time, believing it would forever be alone in its endless suffering until a presence from that other side broke it free. A woman who practiced the black arts and wanted to reshape Remnant to her personal liking. Giratina grew attached to this mysterious woman with a penchant for witchcraft and set out to reshape the world alongside her. They would have succeeded if not for the efforts of a group of Pokémon claiming to fight for justice, and so Giratina was banished back to its distorted prison, along with the woman who had initially freed them. As angry as Giratina was for being sent back, they at least had company for the rest of eternity.

More time passed on that other side until Giratina observed a group of humans who dedicated their lives to the woman that had stood by them. It observed as they gathered the orbs Arceus had created to enhance the powers of Dialga, Palkia, and themselves and brought them to the peak where Arceus and the others were born. With the power of the orbs, a very tiny rift was created. While most would not notice such a rift of that size, Giratina could, and let out a howl.

Hearing her dear Pokémon howling, the witch known as Salem quickly materialized next to Giratina, having adapted to this "Distortion World's" lack of laws and logic.

"What is it, my dear Giratina?" said Salem. "You seemed to be disturbed by something."

Giratina let out another howl and brought Salem's attention to the rift that was created between the worlds.

"A rift has been opened? Could it be that those on the other side have succeeded in gathering the three orbs?"

"EEERAAAAA!" cried Giratina.

"Well then...let's not keep them waiting!"

Salem and Giratina concentrated their powers on the rift between their world and the world on the other side, causing the tiny rift to slowly expand. Soon a hole opened in the middle of space, where Salem and Giratina can now clearly see the other world.

#

The Cult of Salem watched as the tiny spacial rift rapidly expanded, creating a hole in the middle of the orbs. Through the hole the cult was able to get a glimpse of the distorted world on the other side. As the hole got larger, they could see the woman and her Pokémon they've been wishing to bring back to the world of Remnant. Once the hole was big enough for Giratina to easily fit through, the berserk Renegade let out a loud roar as it slowly flew through the rift and landed with a thunderous boom, with Salem slowly walking out alongside them. Lionheart could feel his soul leaving his body at the sight of the actual Giratina, looking as frightening as the tales described them. Tyrian stared at Salem as if she was a goddess that descended from the heavens and would have been crying tears of joy if he even cried in the first place. Hazel stood with his arms folded as he usually did, while Watts smiled seeing his plan execute perfectly. Watts walked up to Salem and bowed in her presence.

"Welcome back, Salem," said Watts. "I am Doctor Arthur Watts, founder of the group dedicated to bringing you back from the world you were banished to."

"Is that so?" said Salem. "Do you expect me to reward you for releasing me from that distorted world?"

"Your presence is reward enough!" said Tyrian, running over and bowing before Salem's presence. "My queen, it will be beautiful to watch you and Giratina cause mass destruction to this planet!"

"Is that why you brought me back? Knowing full well what I intend to do alongside Giratina?"

"We all have our reasons for bringing you here," said Watts. "I for one think this world needs to be cleansed of the weak in order to evolve. My muscled ally over there wishes for you to wipe out the people who won't allow Pokémon to fight the way they should, and my mentally stable friend here...well, he just loves to watch the world burn. But in the end, we all have the same goal: For you to reshape this world for the better!"

"I see," said Salem. "Do you three pledge your undying loyalty to me, knowing full well what I can and will do if you do not live up to my expectations?"

"Of course!" said Tyrian. "I'll do anything for you, my queen!"

"As long as you wipe out the Pokémon Leagues," said Hazel.

"It would be an honor to work with you," said Watts.

While Salem was content with the three members of the cult pledging their allegiance to her, she noticed the fourth man standing back and shaking in fear at the sight of Salem and Giratina's presence.

"And what about that man over there?" said Salem, pointing towards Lionheart.

"Oh right, him," said Watts. "He wishes for-"

"EERAA!" cried Giratina, stamping its several legs on the ground.

"Is something wrong with Giratina?"

"It senses something powerful approaching," said Salem.

"I have a feeling I know what."

Up from the cave below came the Swords of Justice as expected, along with Mewtwo. The Swords and Mewtwo stood in formation as they witnessed what they feared would happen: Salem and Giratina had returned.

"What do we have here?" said Salem. "The very same Pokémon that banished me to the Distortion World."

"And we'll do it again!" replied Keldeo. Salem turned her attention to the other Pokémon standing amongst the Swords of Justice. It was a species Salem was not familiar with, and yet she could sense a strong aura emitting from this mysterious Pokémon, almost as dark and powerful as her own.

"And it appears you've made a new friend. I'm not quite sure I've seen this one before."

"I'd keep an eye on that one," said Watts. "That thing is an extremely powerful Pokémon. I dare say its power can almost rival that of Giratina."

"You should be more worried about us!" yelled Cobalion. "We may have failed to stop these humans from bringing you and that monster back to this world, but we banished you once before, and we shall banish you again!"

"Times have changed, stallion," said Salem. "Giratina and I have learned some new techniques over the past several centuries. Not to mention I have quite an army of my own."

Watts, Hazel, and Tyrian all stood in front of Giratina and Salem, ready to call out their own Pokémon to aide Salem. Lionheart went to stand as far away as possible, hoping nobody would notice him trying to stay out of this battle.

"But then again...why do any of us need to fight? After all, shouldn't we all have the same goal?"

"Are you kidding me?" yelled Keldeo. "Why would WE have the same goal as YOU?"

"Such a naive little child. But I'm sure the three of you understand what I'm saying."

"Whatever tricks you are trying to pull," said Virizion, "we're not going to fall for it."

"I think she's just stalling because we're going to take her down all over again!" said Terrakion.

"What are you trying to imply, witch?" asked Cobalion.

"The three of you know of the humans' penchant for evil," said Salem, "and yet you refuse to allow me to wipe them out. Don't you agree the humans deserve to be extinguished to make this world a better place?"

"Regardless of our shared hatred for humans, I know for a fact you would also do the same to the Pokémon of this world! Our resolution is to bring Justice to those who harm innocent Pokémon!

To protect all Pokémon who can't protect themselves! We, The Swords of Justice, will banish you once and for all, Salem!"

"We shall see!" said Salem.

The Swords of Justice all formed their Sacred Sword as the Cult of Salem called out their Porygon-Z, Pangoro, and Drapion.

"I'm not going to let you land a hand on my queen!" yelled Tyrian, calling out his Pokémon.

"We will do away with you humans quickly!" said Cobalion. But before the Swords could make the first move, Mewtwo suddenly floated over and positioned themselves in front of the Swords.

"Do not waste your time fighting her followers," said Mewtwo. "I can take them all out with ease. You should focus on sending Salem and Giratina back to their world!"

"So be it, then! Swords of Justice: To battle!"

The Swords of Justice all charged in on Giratina; Giratina started the battle by unleashing an Ominous Wind to knock the Swords back. The Swords quickly got back into formation and struck Giratina with their Sacred Swords, hardly doing any damage to Giratina. Using its giant spiked wings, Giratina slashed at the Swords with its Dragon Claw, doing some moderate damage to each of them. Cobalion countered by unleashing their Metal Burst, sending hot metal shrapnel flying into Giratina; Terrakion got behind Giratina and stomped the ground with their Stone Edge, creating a sharp pillar out from the ground and piercing underneath Giratina; Virizion created their Leaf Blade and slashed Giratina several times, landing some critical hits; Keldeo followed up by using their Aqua Tail and smacking Giratina in the face with a powerful water attack. Despite the four on one assault, Giratina simply roared and unleashed its Dragon Breath on all the Swords; the Swords quickly ran around to avoid getting paralyzed by Giratina's attack.

"We don't seem to be making a dent in this thing!" said Keldeo.

"Stand your ground, Keldeo!" said Cobalion. "As long as we don't make foolish mistakes, we can take down this beast like we did once before! Swords, engage in Close Combat!"

Keldeo's masters all surrounded Giratina and used their Close Combat technique to unleash every bit of strength they had. Giratina was barely affected by their attacks and struck back with another Ominous Wind, pushing all the Swords away. Keldeo's master reformed their Sacred Swords and charged back into the fray. Keldeo was about to form their own Sacred Sword when they felt a very sharp pain spring up in their abdomen. As Ruby had alluded to before, Keldeo's injuries from their previous battles had not fully healed just yet, and all this pushing beyond their limit was now taking a serious toll on Keldeo.

 _"It hurts to even breathe!"_ thought Keldeo. _"But I have to keep fighting! I can't let everyone down!"_

While the Swords charged forward to do battle with Giratina, Mewtwo kept their focus on the cult members responsible for Giratina's return. Having faced tougher opposition in the past, these three would not be a problem for the world's most powerful man-made Pokémon.

"Which of you dares to attack me first?" asked Mewtwo.

"Signal Beam!" replied Watts, wasting no time getting the fight started.

Porygon-Z fired its energy beam at Mewtwo, who held up their arms to block the beam from reaching their brain and cause them confusion. At the same time Porygon-Z attacked, Pangoro rushed in and bit down on Mewtwo's arm with a powerful Crunch. Despite his sharp teeth piercing through Mewtwo's arm, Mewtwo kept their composure and used their free arm to blast Pangoro away with an Aura Sphere. As Mewtwo was checking their arm, Drapion raised its tail and fired its Toxic poison at Mewtwo. Mewtwo used their Psychic power to stop the liquid from reaching them, then grabbed Drapion in a Psychic hold and sent him flying back. Porygon-Z flew in close to attack Mewtwo again and got caught in a Psychic grip as well. Mewtwo was going to slam them into the ground when Porygon-Z used Conversion 2 and reprogrammed its own typing to Dark, allowing it to break free of Mewtwo's attack. Thrown off by Porygon-Z's type changing abilities, Pangoro charged at Mewtwo and struck Mewtwo on top of their head with a Hammer Arm, then Drapion immediately ran in and used its Cross Poison to slash at Mewtwo, dealing some critical damage. Having taken a sizable amount of damage, Mewtwo fell to one knee, which caused Tyrian to feel delighted.

"This supposed destroyer of New Vale City isn't so strong after all!" said Tyrian.

"You underestimate their capabilities," replied Watts.

As Watts assumed would happen, Mewtwo activated Recover and rapidly regenerated their damaged skin cells, healing all their wounds instantaneously. Once Mewtwo was back on their feet, they quickly fired several Aura Spheres and blasted their opposition away. As Pangoro and Drapion struggled to get back up, Porygon-Z used Recover itself and repaired their own damages.

"You're quite an impressive specimen," said Watts. "Such a shame this power is wasted trying to take down our queen. Perhaps you'd like to reconsider? I think you and Salem have quite a bit in common."

"I already serve a master," replied Mewtwo. "As for Salem, there is nothing I share in common with that witch!"

"Then either you are nothing like the Mewtwo I've heard stories about many years ago, which means you are not as impressive as I had hoped...or perhaps you're simply lying to yourself."

Instead of replying to Watts' retort, Mewtwo simply formed another Aura Sphere and fired at Porygon-Z. Watts snapped his fingers for Porygon-Z to convert their typing again and avoid taking serious damage from Mewtwo's attack. As Watts continued to try messing with Mewtwo, the Swords continued their fight against Giratina, slashing away with their Sacred Swords as much as they could, but Giratina continued to hold off against all the Swords at once. While all the Swords were feeling exhausted, Salem noticed Keldeo doubling over in pain. It seemed Keldeo was suffering from a serious injury that was hampering them from fighting at their fullest. Salem knew exactly what to do next.

"Giratina, finish off the young one!" commanded Salem. Giratina turned its attention to Keldeo; despite their weakened state, Keldeo stood tall and was ready to take whatever Giratina was going to dish out.

"Swords, to Keldeo!" commanded Cobalion. All three of them used their Quick Guard to quickly surround Keldeo, using their armored bodies to protect Keldeo as Giratina slashed at the swords with a fierce Dragon Claw. Salem laughed at seeing the Swords jump in to protect Keldeo, just as she knew they would.

"How pathetically predictable," said Salem. "Sacrificing yourselves to save the weakest member of your group. Now none of you stand a chance against Giratina."

"Then perhaps it's time I take a shot!" exclaimed Mewtwo.

Salem turned around to see Mewtwo standing behind her, ready to do battle. Behind Mewtwo laid the three Pokémon that had failed to damage Mewtwo even the slightest. Watts and Hazel did not appear too bothered by seeing their Pokémon knocked out, but Tyrian was moaning and appeared distraught at having let down his queen.

"I'm so sorry, my queen!" yelled Tyrian. "I was too weak to stop them!"

"You are indeed a powerful Pokémon," said Salem. "I can sense your Psychic powers. Watts is right; your power even outranks the Swords. In fact, I dare say it feels almost equal to Giratina."

"I was created to rival that of legendary Pokémon," replied Mewtwo. "There is no other Pokémon living on this planet that outranks me."

"But that's not all I can sense from you. I sense something else deep within you. You carry intense hatred and darkness in your heart. Enough to be considered...evil."

That word. It was a word Mewtwo was described as all too often. At one point they even believed that to be true, until a certain trainer proved otherwise. As much as Mewtwo tried to hide it, Salem can tell she was getting under Mewtwo's skin.

"Struck a nerve, have I? Just what are you exactly, Mewtwo?"

"I am Mewtwo!" replied Mewtwo. "And I will be the one that stops you and Giratina! That is all you need to know!"

"You can't hide your true self from me, Mewtwo. Admit it: Deep down your heart is as black and twisted as mine! Wouldn't it make more sense for you to fight by my side?"

Sick of hearing Salem trying to dig up Mewtwo's true feelings, Mewtwo created an Aura Sphere and fired at Salem, causing Salem to clutch her chest from the surprise attack.

"Does that answer your question?" replied Mewtwo.

"HOW DARE YOU HURT THE QUEEN!" yelled Tyrian, getting up and running towards Mewtwo. Mewtwo turned around and stopped Tyrian midway with their Psychic powers and threw the psychopath back.

As Mewtwo was about to turn back to Salem, they suddenly felt their body being trapped in a Psychic hold.

 _"What the...how?"_ thought Mewtwo.

"You think you're the only one with those kinds of powers?" replied Salem. Everyone turned to see Salem emit a black aura while holding out one arm. "Now, Giratina!"

"EEEERRAAAAA!" yelled Giratina, lunging forward at Mewtwo with its Dragon Claw. Mewtwo concentrated hard and broke Salem's grip and dodged Giratina's attack just in the nick of time.

"I've spent many lifetimes alone with Giratina. In that time, I've come to adapt some of their abilities as my own. We've become one in the same, in many ways!"

"Whatever tricks you may have learned," said Mewtwo, "you are still no match for me!"

As Mewtwo started their battle against Giratina and Salem, with everyone else engrossed by this encounter of two extremely strong Pokémon, Lionheart decided that now was the perfect time to make his exit before anyone noticed. Unfortunately for the cowardly headmaster, the cultists did notice and immediately surrounded him.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Hazel.

"J-j-just trying to stay out of the way!" said Lionheart.

"I think you need to step in and help Salem," said Watts. "Or else your academy isn't going to be spared."

"But-"

"There is no BUT!" said Tyrian, grabbing Lionheart by the throat. "Help our queen or I'll make sure you won't live to see her destroy your academy!"

"Okay, okay!" gasped Lionheart. Shaking in fear, Lionheart slowly approached the combatants and reached down for his Poké Ball containing his Tangrowth and called it out. Concentrating solely on their fight with Giratina, Mewtwo powered up to fire a Shadow Ball at Giratina, unaware of the Tangrowth standing behind them. "Tangrowth, st-st-Stun Spore attack!"

Hearing Lionheart call out for an attack, Mewtwo turned around and was blasted with a heavy dose of Stun Spore to their face. Mewtwo gagged from breathing in the spores. The momentary distraction was enough for Giratina to approach Mewtwo and let out a strong Dragon Breath. The combination of both attacks was enough to cause Mewtwo to feel paralyzed in most of their body.

"Excellent work, my servant!" said Salem. With Mewtwo barely able to move from their paralysis, Salem was able to put them in another Psychic hold. "And so even the world's 'strongest' Pokémon falls at my feet! Any last words before I have my Giratina finish you off?"

"It's not over yet, Salem!" yelled a voice from above.

"Ruby?" said Mewtwo.

Everyone looked up and saw Weiss' Hydreigon and Yang's Celica carrying Ruby and the others. Ruby and Blake jumped down with their signature Pokémon Sylveon and Greninja, while Weiss and Yang rode down with their Dragon Pokémon.

"More lambs to the slaughter," said Salem, releasing their hold on Mewtwo. "Who might you four be?"

"The name's Ruby!" said Ruby. "Champion of Vale and all-around hero, and we're the ones who are going to defeat you!"

"Sylveon!" cheered Sylveon.

"Is that so?" said Salem. "Seeing how I've already defeated the Swords of Justice and this so-called world's strongest Pokémon, do you really think a meager group of trainers such as yourselves stand a chance?"

"Did you not hear what I said?" said Ruby. "I'm the Pokémon Champion of Vale! There's not a trainer in the world - well, Vale at least - that's better than me!"

"And with the exception of her," said Weiss, "there's not a single trainer in the world that has bested me in battle!"

"And I'm just awesome, period!" boasted Yang.

"I'm not one for bragging," said Blake, "but as powerful as Giratina could be, together we'll all find a way to stop you."

"That's right!" said Keldeo. "We may all be a bit tired at the moment, but with all of our strength combined, we're going to take you down!"

Seeing this turning into a nine on one/two situation, the cultists decided they needed to get some other Pokémon out in order to sway the odds back in Salem's favor. Despite the odds and all the Pokémon and trainers she was surrounded by, Salem couldn't help but laugh.

"Nine Pokémon against Giratina and I," said Salem. "As powerful as we are, those kinds of odds might worry me. But as I said before...you heroes are pathetically predictable. All I have to do is break the weakest link in your chain, and the rest of you will soon follow."

The trainers and Pokémon all turned to each other, wondering who Salem was referring to as the weak link. Cobalion noticed Salem turning her attention towards the Swords of Justice; it didn't take long for them to realize who Salem planned to go after.

"Take Keldeo and run!" commanded Cobalion, but it was too late. Salem used her Psychic power to grab Keldeo and lift them up into the air.

"Time to make sure you never interfere again by sending you to the place I've been imprisoned!"

"LET THEM GO!" yelled Cobalion as they and the other Swords charged after Salem, only to be blocked off by Giratina.

"We have to stop her!" yelled Ruby. Sylveon, Hydreigon, Greninja, and Celica all went after Salem herself, only to suddenly be attacked by the cultists' Salazzle, Conkeldurr, and Rotom.

With everyone else unable to reach Salem, Mewtwo fought through their paralysis and tried to grab Keldeo away from Salem with their own Psychic power, only to suddenly have their body wrapped in vines by Lionheart's Tangrowth, breaking their concentration.

Keldeo tried their best to break free but could do nothing but struggle in the air as Salem got ready to throw them through the spacial rift from whence she came. With everyone being blocked and distracted by Giratina and the cultists' Pokémon, Ruby quickly thought of the only thing she can do to save Keldeo. She ran towards Keldeo and jumped up, grabbing on to Keldeo's tail and hoping to drag them back to the ground, but Salem's Psychic grip was too strong, leaving Ruby dangling in the air.

"Let go, Ruby!" said Keldeo. "Before she gets you too!"

"No way!" said Ruby. "I'm not letting you go, Keldeo!"

Even if Ruby could let go, it was already too late. Salem entrapped Ruby in the same Psychic hold, setting them both up to be thrown in.

"Say hello to your new home!" declared Salem, sending them flying into the rift behind her. Amid fighting off the cultists, Yang suddenly realized Ruby had been sent to the other side.

"NO! RUBY!" yelled Yang.

"She's thrown Keldeo in!" yelled Virizion.

"Swords, remain here!" commanded Cobalion.

Seeing Ruby and Keldeo both sent to the Distortion World, Yang along with Celica, Sylveon and Cobalion both jumped through the rift themselves, hoping to save their loved ones before it was too late. Having witnessed Ruby thrown in, Mewtwo was getting more enraged by the second, and finally broke out of Tangrowth's Wring Out.

"CURSE YOU, SALEM!" yelled Mewtwo, gathering all the energy within them to blast Salem with.

"Giratina, if you would," replied Salem. With Mewtwo still suffering severe paralysis, Giratina was quickly able to step in front of Mewtwo and blast them away with an Ominous Wind. The force of the wind was enough to cause Mewtwo to stumble across the ground, nearing the edge of the mountain. As Mewtwo tried to get up, they suddenly lost feeling in their legs and ended up falling back, causing them to tumble off the side of the mountain. With over half of the team disposed of, things were no longer looking good for the Swords and the trainers.

"What do we do now?" asked Weiss.

"We fight!" yelled Terrakion as they and Virizion charged towards Salem with their Sacred Swords. Salem easily caught them in a Psychic hold and sent them flying into the Distortion World as well. Seeing that rift being their biggest obstacle, Blake tried to figure out a way to close it before they all ended up on the other side.

 _"The orbs!"_ thought Blake, noticing the orbs still lodged where they were. Blake and Greninja both dived towards two of the orbs, only for Hazel to tackle Blake to the ground and Rotom using Thunder Wave to paralyze Greninja.

"Guess it's time to call in the big guns!" said Weiss. "Hydreigon, fire your Draco-"

Before Weiss can command Hydreigon to use their strongest move, Lionheart's Tangrowth fired Sleep Powder at Weiss, quickly rendering her unconscious. Hydreigon tried to attack in retaliation, only for Giratina to unleash a Dragon Breath on him and paralyze Weiss' Dragon as well. Salem grabbed Weiss and Blake with her Psychic powers and tossed them through the rift, with Hazel throwing in Greninja and Giratina throwing in Hydreigon.

As Salem proclaimed, after taking out the weakest link, everyone once standing in her way were now tossed into the world that had imprisoned her and Giratina.

"WONDERFUL!" said Tyrian. "That was truly spectacular, my queen!"

"But how do we make sure they don't come back?" asked Hazel.

"Simple," said Salem. "We close it like so."

Salem went over to where the Griseous Orb was and pocketed it, breaking off the formation of the orbs and causing the rift to slowly close on itself. Giratina used their powers to speed up the process, sealing the rift up and returning the space around the shrine back to its normal state. Watts went over and placed the two other orbs in the briefcase.

"A resounding success," said Watts. "Without the orbs, they have no chance of returning to this world."

"Which means we can now reshape the world our way," said Hazel.

"Let the destruction begin!" said Tyrian, eager to see Salem start destroying cities.

"Wait a minute!" said Lionheart. "We had a deal!"

"Oh right, that," said Watts. "My queen, my colleague here wishes for you to spare Haven Academy and its nearby city."

"Is that so?" asked Salem.

"Yes!" said Lionheart. "You WILL spare them...at least for as long as possible...right?"

Lionheart was hoping Salem would agree to spare his academy and the city he lived in as a reward for doing what he was told. Instead, Salem looked to be disinterested in what Lionheart had to say.

"Listen up my followers!" said Salem. "Our first city to feel my wrath will be Haven City! As Giratina and I decimate the city, you four will make sure that no one else dares to get in my way! Understood?"

"Yes, my queen!" replied all but Lionheart.

"But I was promised-" Lionheart tried to say before Salem had them in a Psychic grip, clutching down specifically on his neck.

"I SAID, UNDERSTOOD?"

Seeing how there was no chance of him changing Salem's mind, Lionheart nodded so Salem would let him go. Salem climbed up on Giratina's back and took off towards the city, while her followers found their own way down the mountain.

At the bottom of the mountain lied Mewtwo, who was slowly starting to get over the paralysis that had encompassed their body. After they recovered, Mewtwo floated back up to the top of the mountain. There he saw that everyone was now gone, and that the spacial rift had disappeared, leaving nothing but the shrine built to Arceus remaining. It was sinking in their mind that Ruby, the trainer they had sworn to protect, was now gone.

"No...NOOOO!" yelled Mewtwo. "I have to find a way to get to that other side! Perhaps if I concentrate hard enough..."

Mewtwo used their Psychic powers to sense any kind of small tear left behind. Even a microscopic tear would be enough for Mewtwo to try and rip apart. They tried concentrating harder than ever before, but even at their peak mental strength, it was impossible for them to rip through space itself. Even if they were injected with so much Dust to heighten their abilities, it still wouldn't be enough.

"It's useless! The only way to get Ruby back is to obtain the orbs again! Which means...I'd have to fight..."

Salem. Just merely thinking about her and what she did was enough to make Mewtwo feel levels of rage they hadn't felt since the day they destroyed the research center, or the moment they discovered Cinder had used them for their own power. Salem was especially worse because Salem had tapped into what Mewtwo was truly feeling; what they had hoped they suppressed since they promised Ruby to become a truly good Pokémon.

Mewtwo had tried to hide this side of them for Ruby's sake, but now with Ruby gone, there was nothing left to stop them from becoming the weapon of destruction they were intended to be. They looked out towards the horizon where Haven City was, where Salem and her minions were surely attacking by now.

"Forgive me Ruby, for I am about to do something that goes against everything you've taught me."


End file.
